As scheduled, the long-anticipated Netflix Spiderhead movie is now available on the Netflix official website. The firm confirmed the release in a tweet via its official Twitter page.
The movie is a 2022 American science fiction thriller film directed by Joseph Kosinski and written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, based on George Saunders’ dystopian short story “Escape from Spiderhead.”
The movie is exclusively on Netflix only and won’t be available in the theatres, although fans and lovers can watch the short trailer via YouTube and Netflix’s official Twitter page. Here is a short review of the movie.
Netflix’s Spiderhead Review
The Spiderhead movie revolves around two inmates in a modern avant-garde prison run by a brilliant visionary, Steve Abnesti (Chris Hemsworth), who is constantly seen experimenting on his subjects with mind-altering drugs that produce a wide range of emotional responses such as happiness, sadness, laughter, and agony.
Hemsworth plays Steve Abnesti, a kooky tech and science visionary who oversees the Spiderhead Penitentiary and Research Center. The prison is situated on what appears to be a deserted island; the construction is a foreboding brutalist edifice on the exterior and appears to be a vision of the future from 1975 on the inside.
Spiderhead appears to have an open-door policy with no guards stationed. Inmates are all assigned jobs, such as managing snack production or working as janitors. What truly distinguishes the location is the little device implanted on the back of each inhabitant. Each is filled with a series of colorful vials carrying various chemicals. Abnesti may manipulate those chemicals using a smartphone app to administer a specific medicine and alter the inmates’ states.
The first example is of a man who simply cannot stop laughing; Abnesti begins by delivering bad dad jokes before transitioning to repeating genocide facts. However, the giggles continue unabated throughout the session. The premise of using a subjugated class as a guinea pig isn’t new in fiction, but Spiderhead stands out for its daring and unsettling tonal whiplash. The tests are obviously troubling, but they are all buried beneath a cloak of luxury and the appearance of choice.
Even when it’s messed up — at one point, a prisoner named Jeff (Miles Teller) is forced to choose which of his fellow convicts should get the worst mind-altering medicine — the inmates go through with it because, well, it’s better than being in a conventional prison. They must also expressly affirm that they “acknowledge” the procedure before a dose may be administered, giving the impression that they have a choice in the matter.
Hemsworth holds everything together, and you’ll want to punch him in the face while watching this. He exudes tech bro luxury and positivity while hiding his horror experiments behind the guise of saving the world (from what, we’re never informed). All the while, he berates his poor helper and makes the inmates feel obligated to express gratitude for everything he’s done for them. At one point, he quips about how much he’s benefited from his appearance.
Spiderhead is a continuous increase in dread, progressing from the laughing drug to some pretty horrifying “accidents.” It also does an excellent job of concealing its true aims – when Jeff finally connects the dots and realizes what the experiments are for, it’s a rewarding revelation. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t know what to do with itself after that.
In conclusion, there are several action sequences and chases, but they all go nowhere. Spiderhead poses many intriguing (and depressingly applicable) questions but shows little interest in answering them. Stay connected with TechGenyz for more updates.
