“Spiderhead” mini-review

I watched this on a whim, after being intrigued by the trailer. It had some good bits, but it ultimately over-extends a relatively thin (and implausible) idea which would have worked better as a Dark Mirror episode — and there are plot problems which become fairly obvious towards the end.

Still, I kind of enjoyed the vibe, which reminded me of a low budget, 80s/90s claustrophobic cult sci-fi B-movie confection (e.g. like 1982’s “Android”, but not nearly as good).

There were also obvious nods to the famous experiments of Stanley Milgram, and even a touch of “Flowers For Algernon” at times (via a drug which improves verbal ability, although they don’t dwell on this).

Chris Hemsworth, who I have never seen doing anything other than posing as THOR, was quite good in it. I was also surprised to see it was directed by the same guy who did the recent “Top Gun: Maverick” silliness. (“One for them; one for me”, is it?)

Overall, a moderately decent time-filler, but nothing to go out of your way for. But I don’t regret giving it my evening.