Der Spinnenkopf

The result is a movie that is less thought-provoking and more aggressively lame. Hemsworth's charismatic persona and Teller's dramatic performance are not enough to keep this film afloat. Everything culminates in a bonkers final act that's surprisingly awful. Once again, the tone is all over the place as the film ends with a jarring shift to a needle-drop action sequence that feels all over the place in a so-bad-it's-good way. What had the potential to be a darkly funny, suspenseful, claustrophobic sci-fi story amounts to none of that, leading to a colossal miscalculation that you won't care for once the credits roll.

Spiderhead banks heavily on its lead performers, and both Hemsworth and Teller deliver the goods when the plot struggles to. Very early on, you smell a lighter version of Ex-Machina (replace the robot with mind-control drugs), with several random tonal shifts. The writers (Rhett Rheese & Paul Wernick) are known for tickling the funny bone, but I think this film would have benefited from a more serious, psychological approach - which, credit where it's due - it did to some extent. The romantic subplot, while nice to see, ended up being exploited (such a cliché) as expected. The conclusion isn't all that exciting, because by then, Spiderhead has fully embraced its weirdness and is unfortunately stuck between making viewers care and giving closure to the plot.

Firstly, flawless acting performances from the main cast, you can see the emotions switch with the most subtle of facial changes. This film was just, okay. Not terrible, not amazing, just okay for Friday night viewing. But the makers seemingly didn't know what genre of film they were creating. It starts off all light hearted and you're lured into believing its a comedy, then you're fixed within a drama/thriller through the middle, only for it to end as a light hearted comedy in its climax?

Spiderhead starts very well, with a serious tone and lots of conversation, kinda similar to Ex Machina. However, the story doesn't holds itself well and the plot gets convuluted without much of a development for the characters.

Though it starts with promise, "Spiderhead" is heavy weighted sci-fi stuff that doesn't intrigue much with it's elements due to weak development, and leaves it's mark as a disappointment, rather than being something impressive.

My Rating : 5/10.

An intriguing premise alone isn't enough to push this film into "good" territory. You keep waiting for something really interesting to happen, but it just sort of fizzles out near the end without ever reaching a satisfying crescendo.

Hemsworth's charm is on display and is the highlight for sure. Teller is fine, as are most of the other cast members. The story seems to be building towards some big twist or crazy moment, and while there isn't nothing, I feel it didn't quite justify the two hour expenditure.