'Thor,' it's not: 'Spiderhead' doesn't weave much of a story, despite Chris Hemsworth

The pedigree of “Spiderhead” is impeccable.

Joseph Kosinski directs. He’s got another little movie out this summer you may have heard about: “Top Gun: Maverick.” (He also directed the vastly underrated “Only the Brave,” about the horrific tragedy of the Granite Mountain Hotshots.)

The film is based on “Escape from Spiderhead,” a short story that appeared in the New Yorker and was written by the great George Saunders. It’s a stark, brutal story that you absolutely should read — after you first read Saunders’ brilliant “Lincoln in the Bardo.”

It stars Chris Hemsworth, who is of course Thor in the Marvel movies, and Miles Teller, who is in both “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Only the Brave,” which suggests that he does some of his best work with Kosinski.

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Screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick grew up in Arizona

Screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick also wrote “Zombieland” and “Deadpool” (and grew up in Arizona).

Let’s see, what else? It’s been an unusually hot June, even for Arizona. Boy, that stock market, huh? Whew. Everyone’s taking a bath.

Oh, and “Spiderhead?” Right, that.

Eh. If it seems like I’m putting that part off, well, yeah.

There’s a really intriguing idea at the heart of this film. I know, because I’ve read Saunders’ story, which leaves you haunted. The movie simply does not.

Somehow all the talent involved in “Spiderhead" just doesn’t come together to make anything memorable. There are entertaining flashes — Jurnee Smollett, who was so good in “Lovecraft Country,” is really effective here, too, bottling up guilt and pain in a facade that will eventually, of course, crack. Teller is also good as Jeff, a prisoner taking part in a scientific experiment.

He’s one of the convicted felons living in a kind of resort penal colony on an island in the middle of the ocean. The genius in charge is Steve Abnesti (Hemsworth). He and his assistant Verlaine (Mark Paguio) are conducting experiments in which they dose prisoners with various types of experimental drugs that completely change their behavior.

A man and woman become completely, unstoppably sexually attracted to each other. A miserable industrial dump looks like a sylvan scene that is unspeakably beautiful.

Not to worry; there’s a drug to help you articulate your thoughts. In fact, you can’t not articulate them. All of these are delivered through a pack surgically implanted in the small of the prisoners’ backs.

In a nice bit of false confidence, Abnesti can’t administer the drugs unless he gets the OK from the prisoners. “Acknowledge” is the word that gives permission; one of the better parts of the film is watching the varying ways that Teller’s Jeff utters it. But really, what choice do they have but to say it?

Freedom of choice is both the promise and the lie here. There are other drugs that make you feel, as Jeff puts it, the worst you’ve ever felt, times 10. And Jeff feels pretty bad, as we see in repeated flashbacks to the night that led him to be there.

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Teller and Smollett are good, but Kosinski can't manage the film's tone

Lizzy (Smollett), with whom Jeff has grown close, also has a history; let’s be honest, everyone at Spiderhead, the name of the facility, does. It’s the future that matters, though differently to Abnesti than to the others.

Kosinski punctuates the film with needle drops that sound like he’s piping in the yacht rock station on SiriusXM. Irony, I guess. Or something. But “She Blinded Me With Science” is a little on the nose.

It’s kind of fun to see Hemsworth behave like such an arrogant jerk (though you get the feeling he and the filmmakers had more fun shooting his solo dance scene than the audience has watching it). And Kosinski makes visual choices that are intriguing, particularly when he’s trying to capture the scope of Spiderhead. He’s good at the big picture.

The details prove more challenging. Kosinski never manages full control of the film’s tone, which is essential in a story like this. Saunders’ story is draining but cathartic. “Spiderhead” never reaches that level.

'Spiderhead' 2.5 stars

Great ★★★★★ Good ★★★★

Fair ★★★ Bad ★★ Bomb ★

Director: Joseph Kosinski.

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, Jurnee Smollett.

Rating: R for violent content, language and sexual content.

Note: Streaming on Netflix on June 17.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk. Subscribe to the weekly movies newsletter.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'Spiderhead' movie review: Chris Hemsworth isn't exactly Thor here