Based on The New Yorker short story by George Saunders, Spiderhead is a genre-bending and darkly funny psychological thriller directed by Joseph Kosinski ( TRON: Legacy, Top Gun: Maverick) and written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick ( Deadpool, Zombieland).
But when two subjects, Jeff (Miles Teller) and Lizzy (Jurnee Smollett), form a connection, their path to redemption takes a twistier turn, as Abnesti’s experiments start to push the limits of free will altogether. At a loss for words? There’s a drug for that, too. Need to lighten up? There’s a drug for that. In Spiderhead, incarcerated volunteers are free to be themselves.
There are no bars, no cells, or orange jumpsuits. In a state-of-the-art penitentiary run by brilliant visionary Steve Abnesti (Chris Hemsworth), inmates wear a surgically attached device that administers dosages of mind-altering drugs in exchange for commuted sentences. Okay, we’re here for Chris Hemsworth and Miles Teller. For us, we're loving this one for the Italian fashion montages and beautiful Roma scenery.
Catapulted into an unknown country, too messy and full of chaos for her serious, methodical and even a little nerdy nature, she has to reckon with her obsessions, anxieties and fears. While this film isn't for everyone (bar those that absolutely loved Emily In Paris or The Bold Type), it is the kind of flick you can switch on for a well-deserved break from the news or you know, heavy true crime documentaries. Lina, a 17-year-old American, finds herself having to travel to Rome to honour her mother's memory. Book fiends will know this one has been adapted from the Jane Austen novel. When Frederick Wentworth-the dashing one she let get away-crashes back into her life, Anne has to choose between putting the past behind her and pursuing true love. Living with her snobby family on the brink of bankruptcy, Anne Elliot (Dakota Johnson) is an "unconforming woman with modern sensibilities". Plucked from a federal penitentiary and recruited by his handler, Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton), Gentry was once a highly-skilled, Agency-sanctioned merchant of death.just your run-of-the-mill job, right? However, the tables turn and now Six is the target, hunted across the globe by Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans), a former cohort at the CIA, who will stop at nothing to take him out. If you liked this (or even if you didn't) try oneguyrambling.The Gray Man is CIA operative Court Gentry (Ryan Gosling), AKA Sierra Six. Equally entertaining is the "pick that 80′s bit part guy", I saw actors from King Pin, Red Heat and The Last Boy Scout and I'm sure there are many others. Even though after about 30 minutes you have a fair handle on how this will end this Alien/Terminator rip-off adds enough to entertain, with a fair bit of action peppered with a little sci-fi and a teaspoon of horror. The host seems to be the ultimate consumer, while he is in possession of the body he lives by the mantra "drive it like you stole it", he eats what he wants, steals what he needs and for most of the flick conveniently carries his own dodgy 80′s soundtrack with him, the only recognisable song being from Aussie outfit Hunters and Collectors. As you probably haven't heard about the film I'll try to minimise the description, but it is obvious early on that the criminal is being "hosted" by an alien being, who is able to transfer from one human to the next, as long as the new body is basically dead (not a positive sign if his host body is desperate to move!) Actually the coolest part of the film is the transfer process, though it is not pretty. He is then introduced to Lloyd Gallagher, an FBI man played by Kyle McLachlan who nonetheless "needs" to meet the criminal straight away. We are then introduced to the lawman Tom Beck who says that the bad guy went on a two week crime spree and is apparently about to die from the wounds from both gunshots and the explosion. Despite the cliché it actually isn't a bad scene.
Speaking of plot, the opening scene is a violent bank robbery, followed by a high speed car chase that even includes the "car running through the pane of glass held by two guys", and a shootout which ends with the action movie staple, the car that explodes when shot (even though the cops were seemingly aiming at the perp). But in essence the basic plot is slightly skewed toward horror rather than sci-fi. Not sure this is really a horror flick, more a "tweener".