As much as I love to lose a whole weekend working my way through an 8 or 10 part series, lately I’ve been in the mood for a “quick snack.” A stand-alone story that I can consume in well under two hours and feel satisfied that I’ve been diverted, if not wholly entertained. Maybe you’ve felt the same lately?
For that reason, I find myself appreciating the horribly named, but decent thriller Spiderhead’ (which is the name of a place and I only remember hearing it once, so don’t worry that their movie is about spiders…or heads.)
In the near future, or possibly even present-day, a state-of-the-art penitentiary that looks like IKEA with fashion shoot lighting is run by Steve Abnesti (Chris Hemsworth), but he’s more research doctor than warden.
Indeed, inmates, because they have agreed to become pharmaceutical test subjects and are non-violent offenders, are allowed to wear regular clothes and walk around freely – no locking cells, good food, nobody gets shanked
The catch? A surgically attached device that administers dosages of mind-altering drugs to them. The drugs might make them horny or hungry or (duhn, duhn duuuuh) out of their friggin’ minds with fear or anxiety or some kind of acid trip gone badly. Abnesti brings them in periodically to sit in a glassed in a room, and from an overlooking control room, always asks their consent before pushing the buttons to release the drugs through the device that looks like a smallish iPhone.
The film is mounted very economically-just a cast of 3 main characters and a few supporting actors. That’s it.
And the gorgeous exterior locations, which we briefly see only a time or two, might fool you into thinking that you haven’t just watched a whole movie essentially shot on two or three sets with no big effects – but you have. You’ve just watched a small little film that runs about a buck forty, minus credits.
Two inmates/subjects, Jeff (Miles Teller) and Lizzy (Jurnee Smollett), form a bond, which is possibly real or possibly a side effect of their meds. Either way, they discover that the mild-mannered, handsome Abnesti (“Call me Steve”) isn’t the benevolent bespectacled hunk he appears to be. His motives run darker and create the few plot twists which, of course I never reveal.
Director Joseph Kosinski has just the right touch – mixing elements of humor, at least one gory scene with lots of blood and what I call a “Sci-Fi Lite” sensibility. In other words, things are plausible but you’re invited to sit back and not take the science too seriously.
Teller and Smollett reveal that even good people like them have done some horrible things in their past, and we are on their side from the jump. Hemsworth has fun in his villain role-again, not taking things too, too seriously.
Yeah, it’s a breezy romp. A palette cleanser before you and I delve back into something that takes us 8 hours to finish. We’d better get started now.
Spiderhead | 3 out of 4 Stars | Streaming Now on Netflix
