Chris Hemsworth and Netflix has had success in the past with the movie Extraction from a few years ago. This weekend, the streaming service dropped the next Hemsworth film where Chris played a different type of character than we have seen from him before.

Spiderhead finds Chris Hemsworth playing Dr. Steve Abnesti, a scientist at a experimental facility that takes volunteer prisoners and run drug trials on them trying to find a way to manage their emotions to allow for their redemption. Jeff (Miles Teller) was one of the prisoners who allowed the experiments to be done on him. However, Jeff begins to learn details about what was going on in the prison that started to have him questioning the morality of the experiments.

I found this movie to be okay. Are there some areas that are difficult to believe? Sure, but the suspension of disbelief never took me out of the film. In fact, I found myself more engaged with the characters because of the unlikeliness of everything. As we find out more about Jeff’s past and see how he was making connections to fellow convict Lizzy (Jurnee Smollett), I found my personal feelings deepen with him. Miles Teller does a decent job with his portrayal of Jeff and you believe the anguish that the guy has been putting himself through.

I found Chris Hemsworth to be pretty decent as Abnesti. He had the charm that you would expect someone like this would have to have and he played his own troubled background well.

The story was not as deep as it could have been and did not take the risks that it could have, but it was solid enough to make Spiderhead a decent watch. It is certainly better than many of the films released on Netflix. Tat may not be the best complement in the world, but it is ana ccurate one.

Spiderhead was based on the short story “Escape from Spiderhead” by George Saunders, and was directed by Joseph Kosinski.

3.2 stars