While the Top Gun movie is an action-packed thrill-fest of a spectacle, Spiderhead is a much more muted affair. This isn’t to say it’s not worth a watch, but if you’re expecting a thriller that will get your heart racing, you may be disappointed. You might also be disappointed if you’re expecting somebody to appear with the body of a man and the head of a spider, as the title of the movie refers to the penitentiary where Steve (Chris Hemsworth) conducts his experimental research on his incarcerated victims.
Jeff and Lizzy are able to spend time together because they have a strong connection. They are both prisoners, but they have bonded over their shared experiences and tragedy. They are able to talk freely and share their thoughts because they know that no one is going to judge them.
Still, it’s not all fun and games for those who have been incarcerated as the disarmingly charming Steve needs them for his experiments. Mercifully, they aren’t as gruesome as you might expect so as I alluded to a moment ago, there are no scenes of humans being merged with spiders to form any kind of malformed monstrosity. ..
Jeff and his friends take a pill that makes them feel happy and excited. They also take a serum that makes them feel passionate. There are also mood-enhancing drugs that cause them to feel depressed and suicidal. There is also a serum that drives them wild with passion, usually culminating with them taking their clothes off and having unbridled sex under the watchful eye of Steve and his assistant Mark (Mark Paguio).
It soon becomes clear that Steve doesn’t have the best interests of the inmates at heart. He tells them the tests are beneficial for society but like Jeff, who begins to distrust Steve’s motivations late in the movie, you will start to realize there is something more sinister going on.
The movie is based on George Saunders’ short story ‘Escape from Spiderhead,’ which was originally published in The New Yorker. I haven’t read the story so I can’t compare the two but I hope it was more explanatory than the movie’s script, which never really delves into Steve’s character or his reasons for carrying out the drug trials. By the movie’s end, he is just a caricature, yet another mad scientist who wants to experiment on others for an unexplored selfish gain and not for the good of humanity.
Spiderhead is frustrating because the reasons for Steve’s actions are not fully explained, and this makes the movie less satisfying. Jeff and Lizzy, who get more development than Steve, are the exceptions. ..
Spiderhead’s script has been intelligently written, with themes centred around free will and ethical responsibility. However, the movie suffers from a lack of an identifiable villain, which would have made it a far better watch. ..
Despite the thinness of his character, Hemsworth is enjoyable to watch in “The Huntsman: Winter’s War.” Teller is good value too as are the other actors. And while the movie does not cohere into a satisfying whole, it is entertaining. ..
Spiderhead is an upcoming action-adventure video game for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One platforms. Developed by FromSoftware, it is published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The game is a sequel to the 2010 game Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions, and the first game in the Spiderhead series. It was announced at E3 2019, during Sony’s press conference, and will be released on October 5th, 2019.
