Usually, when a movie is under-retailed, it isn't because the directors or the distributors, or the gift are busy. Indeed though that's exactly what they will tell you. But if they want, they can or will do 12 hours of press each around the globe to make sure that their rearmost product reaches the millions. I'm telling you that from experience. The real reason is that the plant doesn’t have confidence in what the director and the platoon have done, and they don’t want to invest any further in it. So, when I witnessed the under-marketing of “ Spiderhead, ” a film that’s directed by Joseph Kosinski( “ Top Gun Maverick “), written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick( “ Deadpool, ” “ Deadpool 2, ” “ Zombieland ”) and stars Miles Teller, Chris Hemsworth, and Jurnee Smollett, I allowed it must be too bad to promote. It turns out that the movie is good, indeed skirting with greatness.
“ Spiderhead ” is about the nominal installation, which is run by Steve Abnesti( Hemsworth), along with his adjunct Verlaine( Mark Paguio). What's this installation? Well, it’s an experimental jail where culprits are transferred to be tested. The details are fuzzy( or I just didn’t catch it), but it looks like if they partake in this process, also they don’t have to stay in jail, and they’ll admit a reduced judgment at the end of it. What are the trials? The convicts have to take experimental medicines that induce horselaugh, fear, anxiety, love, positivity, and another emotion that can’t be revealed for the sake of spoilers. The goods of those medicines will be examined. And the thing that will be observed the most is whether these medicines are booting the convicts ’ introductory cognitive chops. Steve says that it’s his way of fixing the world and making it a mecca for only and only love. Jeff( Teller), an captured there, starts to see through his crap.
Kosinski, Rheese, and Wernick aren't the subtlest of fibbers when it comes to diving into the themes of their subject material. And it really benefits “ Spiderhead ” and the people they're trying to address through it. Steve is every ultramodern fascist leader ever, every “ workaholic ” CEO ever, every “ I want to heal the world ” entrepreneur ever, and every person who tells those who point out how capitalism is killing free will by saying “ what you're getting is enough. ” The use of an unattractive structure in the middle of nowhere drives home the point that people are truly at the mercy of those who are controlling their perception, just like this small earth we’re on that’s filled with pots fine-tuning nostalgia, happiness, wrathfulness, and prostration so that we can be their guinea gormandizers for life. The movie wants to hit those who hold the remote and those who are being ever controlled. And effects are so bad that there’s no point in being profound about it.
“ Spiderhead ” itself feels like a trial for us. Because the characters ’ capability to empathize with each other isn’t the only thing that’s being poked at. Ours is on the line as well. The casting of, let’s say, traditionally seductive actors like Miles Teller, Chris Hemsworth, Jurnee Smollett, Tess Haubrich, Mark Paguio, and further is done to see how far we're willing to suspend our morality for these unlawful characters. Yes, some of them are objectively villains. Others are villains according to the law. But isn’t the law in place to give us an objective view of people? If it's not, also what defines our morality? Does causing death due to drinking and driving, accidental murder, willful murder, etc. bear environment? If so, also are we asking for the environment only when we're physically attracted to the person in question? Are our parameters of physical attractiveness our own or fed into our system by pots? If not, also are we truly free? Now, that’s food for study.
Joseph Kosinski has dived sci-fi with “ Tron Legacy ” and “ Oblivion, ” drama with “ Only the Brave, ” and the stylish action the world has seen or is ever going to see shortly with “ Top Gun Maverick. ” “ Spiderhead ” seems to be his attempt at dark comedy with a healthy cure of emotional drama. He nails the ultimate down like a master, but his capability to be darkly uproarious is inconsistent. Everything he does with Steve, Jeff, and Lizzy is amazing. The blend of comfy and stifling atmosphere that he creates with DOP Claudio Miranda, editor Stephen Mirrione, and product developer Jeremy Hindle is satanic. You see “ Daffodil, ” the Bingo card, the coitus converse, and hear about the Rwandan genocide, and suppose that that's bold. But when it comes to the grotesqueness of it all, he doesn’t make you qualmish. He should’ve gone full “ A Cure for Wellness ”( “ Spiderhead ” feels like its spiritual successor ”) then. And no, that’s not his way of saying we’ve come asleep to violence.
The performances from the cast are brilliant. This is presumably Chris Hemsworth’s career-stylish performance, right? There’s no mistrustfulness that,quantity-wise, his work as Thor is immense. But it’s only by watching him as Steve that you realize the kind of range he’s able of. The way he respects himself for his aesthetics and genius. The way he carries himself. The line that he walks between being a fascist and an empath. It's all magnific to look at, which is why Hemsworth should retire as Thor and start playing seductive sickies for some time. Miles Teller is great. Everything about his acting then shows how tyrannized his character is by his guilt and how he’s being pushed to the extreme by Steve. Teller’s chemistry with Jurnee Smollett is so organic. That’s why the scene where she opens up( and Smollett acts the hell out of that scene) about her once reduced me to gashes. The supporting cast is fantastic, with Tess Haubrich and Mark Paguio being the most memorable.
As mentioned before, it’s truly crazy that “ Spiderhead ” has been retailed so inadequately. You have the director of one of the most successful pictures of the time and one of the stylish pictures of the time. You have the pens of two of the most successful R- rated pictures. You have Thor himself. You have two stars who are at the peak of their careers and are unable of giving a bad performance. And they've all come together to make a silly, veritably unsubtle, nasty, and uncomfortable movie that examines the boundaries of morality and questions our description of free will. Well, what’s done is done, and all that we can do is watch the movie and appreciate it for what it's( or not if you don’t like it). I largely recommend giving it a pass because you’ll clearly walk down with some questions about how we perceive reality and whether we should trust the people who have taken the responsibility to control our lives.