George Saunders' 2010 New Yorker short story "Escape From Spiderhead" does not read like something that could be adapted into a sci-fi thriller feature film from the director of Top Gun: Maverick and the writers of the Deadpool movies. It's a trippy little mood piece about a prison inmate who's volunteered for experimental trials of mood-altering drugs, and it takes place mostly inside the main character's head. Saunders' fans may be disappointed that Netflix's movie adaptation Spiderhead doesn't capture the author's arch literary tone, but director Joseph Kosinski and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have successfully wrangled the source material into a suspenseful, entertaining mainstream film.

Spiderhead retains the core idea of Saunders' story, with main character Jeff (Miles Teller) subjected to various untested drugs with silly names like Luvactin and Darkenfloxx. Jeff is an inmate at the Spiderhead Penitentiary and Research Center, a remote island facility run by the unctuous Steve Abnesti (Chris Hemsworth). Steve is in charge of developing and testing these new medications, which he asserts will save countless lives and make the world a better place. In exchange for private quarters, freedom of movement within the compound, and higher-quality meals, a group of convicted felons have volunteered to become human test subjects.

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Chris Hemsworth in Netflix's Spiderhead

Every time they're administered a new drug, the inmates have to say, "Acknowledge," but of course, they aren't really given a choice. The first half of Spiderhead sets up an intriguing sci-fi concept, as the characters experience various new sensations on each drug. The opening scene immediately establishes Spiderhead's dark, satirical tone, with one inmate laughing hysterically first at corny, old-fashioned jokes and then at increasingly horrific facts, including the details of his own criminal conviction. There's something sinister about the way that the handsome, well-dressed Steve smiles in satisfaction at these disquieting results.

Hemsworth uses his good looks and natural charisma to his advantage as the devious Steve, just as he did when playing a dangerous cult leader in Bad Times at the El Royale. Steve is disingenuously friendly with the inmates, insisting that they call him by his first name and reminding them of his generosity and his open-door policy. Anyone who's seen a sci-fi movie will know that the genius scientist running a secret island base is not to be trusted, and it's only a matter of time before he turns on Jeff and Jeff's fellow test subjects. Steve is all smiles when the inmates do what he wants, but when they start to object to seemingly unethical protocols, he reveals his true intentions.

Kosinski returns to his roots as the director of visually striking sci-fi movies, Tron: Legacy and Oblivion, making the Spiderhead facility into a combination of futuristically sleek and institutionally ugly, the kind of place that could easily be a supervillain's headquarters. The movie rarely leaves its single location, but Kosinski keeps things fresh, finding different ways to showcase the same spaces. The drugs themselves have a colorful design that suggests something you might find at a rave, and they're administered via ports in the inmates' spines that look a little like children's toys.

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Jurnee Smollett and Miles Teller in Spiderhead

The character relationships are less promising than the sci-fi set up, especially the dynamic between Jeff and fellow inmate Lizzy (Jurnee Smollett), who never have the deep emotional connection that the filmmakers attempt to convey. There's a sudden, horrific incident about halfway through the movie that should shift Spiderhead's story into a more urgent mode, but the developments that follow aren't as exciting as what viewers might have imagined from the early teases. The movie deviates further from Saunders' story the longer it goes on, and the added elements mostly stick to conventional thriller dynamics.

There's a fakeout about the nature of Jeff's crime that seems to exist solely to deploy a weak, manipulative twist, and Lizzy gets a similar revelation at the climax. After seeing how the characters behave on fantastical, perception-warping drugs, these personal details are mostly underwhelming. Teller and Smollett do their best to sell their characters' anguish, but Jeff's and Lizzy's genuine emotions are never as interesting or entertaining as their drug-induced ones. As they express their moral outrage, Hemsworth gets to cut loose with Steve's greed and arrogance, becoming more amusingly unhinged.

Kosinski's visual style and clever use of pop music, along with Hemsworth's charming menace, carry Spiderhead through its less compelling second half as the facility descends into predictable chaos. Like Kosinski's previous sci-fi movies, Spiderhead eventually gets by on atmosphere more than plot, but that atmosphere is immersive and perversely fun, even when the characters are being cruelly toyed with. Saunders' story ends with a sense of morbid inevitability, and while the movie version of Spiderhead takes a more audience-friendly route, it retains just enough of that edge to keep things lively.

Spiderhead premieres Friday, June 17 on Netflix.