Spiderhead Review: Hemsworth & Teller Elevate Familiar Yet Intriguing Thriller
Fresh off the record-breaking success of Top Gun: Maverick, director Joseph Kosinski is back for his second film of the summer, Netflix's Spiderhead. Shot in late 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the thriller is a much smaller and more contained work than Kosinski's blockbuster legacy sequel. Still, with a cast that includes big names like Chris Hemsworth and Miles Teller, there are enough pieces in play to have Spiderhead stand out from the gluttony of Netflix original releases. And this film mostly gets there. Spiderhead blends interesting concepts with strong performances from the cast to craft a fascinating, if thin, sci-fi thriller.
Teller stars in Spiderhead as Jeff, an inmate serving his sentence in the special Spiderhead facility, where prison head Steve Abneti (Hemsworth) conducts tests on drugs designed to alter human behavior. The convicts take part in the experiments under the impression their work will help benefit society in the long run, but Jeff has his suspicions about what's really going on. Becoming disillusioned with the program, Jeff attempts to find a way to break free of Steve and escape Spiderhead.
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The script by Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick is different in style and tone from the meta comedies they're best known for. Spiderhead goes for more heady, thought-provoking material that explores ideas such as free will and humanity's desire to control all aspects of life. It admittedly is familiar territory for a title such as this, but Spiderhead is still able to make it work for the most part, particularly due to its willingness to delve into the characters' past traumas (which is a big part of Jeff's
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