What I’m watching: an interesting science fiction dramaDate: 9/5/2022 On Netflix: “Spiderhead”
I had no idea that the venerable magazine The New Yorker had a film production division, but it makes sense since the short story that is the basis of this film appeared in the magazine.
Low-key and interested in tackling complex themes, “Spiderhead” is about a scientist named Steve Abnesti (Chris Hemsworth) who is running experiments on a group of convicted felons in a private prison/research facility.
Each prisoner wears a device on their lower backs that deliver various drugs into their bodies and Abnesti and his associate observe them during various interactions.
There is a drug that produces such pain people are inclined to kill themselves, while other induce laughter, euphoria and sexual longing.
We learn that two of the prisoners are people who committed accidents that led to the deaths of others. Each of them tortures themselves with guilt and shame.
Abnesti brings prisoners to an observation room and administers drugs that affect their personalities and actions. Jeff (Miles Teller) is one of those prisoners and slowly but surely, he starts to question what is happening to him and others.
His stakes in revealing the truth are raised as he develops a relationship with Lizzy (Jurnee Smolett).
Director Joseph Kosinski has helmed several films including the recent hit “Top Gun: Maverick.” This is certainly a different film than that one. This is a contained intense story about several key themes: the ethics of experimenting on people without their knowledge about those experiments as well as the importance of self-forgiveness as a means to go forward in one’s life.
I was very intrigued about the subject matter and how it was presented. Kosinski keeps the narrative very low-key so the moments of real drama truly stand out. The performances are heartfelt with Teller and Smolett giving nuanced depictions of their characters. Hemsworth plays his villain a little broader, as his character is a smug and slimy type, but he is still effective.
I would have liked to see the ending extended with more about Lizzy and Jeff’s life together, but as is, “Spiderhead” is a meditative science fiction thriller.
On Netflix: “Day Shift”
Listen, I‘ve seen a lot of vampire movies and I understand that writers and directors want to change up the rules of the vampire game to make a story their own.
All speculative fiction establishes rules in which the story operates. Stay within that established logic and audiences might accept your version.
The trouble with this new vampire movie is rules are mentioned and then broken, and a new hierarchy of bloodsuckers is described and then sort of ignored.
A solid performance from Jamie Foxx as the hero and some impressive action sequences do not make up for a very muddled and at times contradictory story.
My problem is by the climax of the film I’m not quite sure by which rules we are operating: Do wooden stakes kill vampires? Does normal ammunition stop them? How about cutting off their heads?
Horror fan boys such as me need to know these things!
As much as some parts of the film worked – I liked the idea of bounty hunters killing vampires and pulling out their fangs as the evidence they need to get paid – this film is just too sloppy in its storytelling to be good.
|
