June 18, 2022
Spiderhead Penitentiary and Research Center housed convicted criminals who had volunteered to be research subjects in order to reduce their sentences. The lead researcher is charismatic Steve Abnesti (Chris Hemsworth), who was conducting experiments with various drugs together with his trusted assistant Mark (Mark Paguio). The inmates included Jeff (Miles Teller), Lizzy (Jurnee Smollett), Heather (Tess Haubrich), Rogan (Nathan Jones), and others.
Among the drugs being tested by Abnesti were G-46 (Laffodil) which can induce laughter, B-15 (Verbaluce) to cause talkativeness, and N-40 (Luvactin) which can evoke feelings of love. However, when one experiment with I-26 (Darkenfloxx), which makes the subject feel extreme pain and suffering, went terribly wrong, suspicious behavior and careless actions soon caused Abnesti's "perfect" experimental design and set-up to unravel.
Since convicted criminals as subjects forced to agree with any experimental drug given them or else be returned back to the State Pen, no Institutional Review Board (an administrative body established to protect the rights and welfare of human research subjects) in the world would have ever approved the experiments of Steve Abnesti on its questionable ethics alone. However, that is the main core premise of this dark comedy we need to accept.
Chris Hemsworth, with all the good will he had in him as an A-list actor, was not exactly convincing as the mad scientist Steve Abnesti, you can even call it miscast. He seemed unsure how to handle his character, unable to balance his self-image from altruistic to megalomaniac, coming up with someone confusing. But his line about beautiful people getting away with too much and him benefiting from time to time is right on the nose on this point.
This film also had the talents of director Joseph Kosinski and actor Miles Teller, both fresh off the success of "Top Gun: Maverick." Filipino viewers will pay attention to Mark Paguio who was the Igor to Hemsworth's Dr. Frankenstein. However, the characters were all unlikable, the storytelling style was not too engaging, with a musical soundtrack which was too random (from yacht rock, new wave to Herb Alpert's "Rise"). Could've been better. 5/10.
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