Spiderhead review

Spiderhead is Netflix’s brand-new attempt at a game-changing, psychological thriller –with talented actors, a critically acclaimed director, and a wholly original story, and going straight to the top spot on the Netflix charts – it has to be good, right? Yeah, well, it’s not quite so simple.

In the near future, convicts are offered the chance to volunteer as medical subjects to shorten their sentences. One such subject for a new drug capable of generating feelings of love begins questioning the reality of his emotions.

The plot is, by all means, original – altering emotions in this more grounded, scientific sense is not something we’ve ever seen before. In saying that, we don’t get to see how exactly the drug works – we just get the visual of a nondescript, glass tube containing a coloured liquid – still, though, more in-depth than the magical spells that we’ve seen in superhero films with the same themes.

Aside from that, the story does feature a healthy number of twists and turns throughout – nothing overly shocking, but it keeps us on our toes regardless. I think the best part of the film has to be the acting. We see characters completely overcome by uncontrollable emotions, and, for this to be believable, an actor needs to portray this convincingly. Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, and Jurnee Smollett, the main stars of the film, take this challenge head-on, understanding their characters to the highest degree, and following through with an excellent performance – not an easy task, but accomplished magnificently.

The writing of the film, done by Joseph Kosinski, is… OK. Sure, the script allows us to see into these characters’ lives, but these are often accompanied by flashbacks and visuals to help us to understand what is happening – not the most heinous crime in the world – but it is a bit of a writer’s get-out-of-jail-free card.

The direction, also by Kosinski, is equally as mediocre – the modernist aesthetic of these types of films, is definitely present – it’s interesting, sure, but from the director of Top Gun: Maverick, I expected something better – not revolutionary – but just something more exciting – or just something that didn’t bore me quite as much as it did.

The major flaw of the film is just how unsatisfying the ending was. Of course, I’m not going to spoil it on you – and the ending of a film doesn’t mean everything that came before is redundant – but with a film that was decent up until the last 15 minutes, I expected a bit better.

Overall, Spiderhead is an interesting concept with some great acting, but is largely a bit lack-lustre in its execution.

l Spiderhead is streaming
on Netflix.

By Jack Baxter