Joseph Kosinski’s Spiderhead is a film with a fantastic concept but executed in the most boring and pedestrian way imaginable. The movie is full of clunky dialogue, stilted performances, generic fight scenes, and bland sets. Chris Hemsworth, taking a villainous turn, is very fun to watch, embracing the strangeness of the concept and finding a depth that isn’t present in the script or the filmmaking. The mystery lying at the heart of the film is utterly predictable and boring. There were so many interesting possibilities that could have been explored within this concept, especially in the idea that it is potentially alluring for the inmates and research subjects to help make the world a better place as part of their journey to assuage feelings of guilt over past mistakes. While there are vague nods toward the characters’ guilt and a desire for redemption, it’s never explored in any meaningful way. The film ends with such an anti-climactic thud and lack of a denouement that it feels more like a fizzle than an actual ending. It’s a film with so much possibility, so much that it appears to be striving toward – but it never quite manages to make any of the pieces come together.