Film Review: The Electric State

The Electric State
Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
AGBO, Double Dream, Skybound Entertainment
Streaming on Netflix: 03.14.25

In the years following Avengers: Endgame, Marvel has struggled to regain its footing. To recapture its former glory, the studio is bringing back directors Anthony and Joe Russo for the next two Avengers films. However, if Marvel has stumbled a bit without them, the Russos have outright faceplanted out there on their own. As the brothers’ string of spectacular duds crescendos with The Electric State, it marks not just a career low for them, but quite possibly a new nadir for blockbuster filmmaking.

In an alternate, retro-futuristic 1990s, teenage orphan Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown, Stranger Things, Enola Holmes) lives in a world where sentient robots, created for the opening of Disneyland, were once integrated into society, and every major advertising mascot existed for real in robot form. Naturally, this eventually led to a robot uprising led by the Planters mascot, Mr. Peanut (voiced by Woody Harrelson). Michelle and her certified genius younger brother, Christopher (Woody Norman, C’mon C’mon), have a certain fondness for robots, at least until Christopher is killed in the war. After the robots sign a treaty and are exiled to Moab, Michelle finds herself stuck living alone with a nasty foster father, Ted (Jason Alexander, Seinfeld), who spends his entire life plugged in to a virtually reality simulation, as does most of the population. This sad existence is interrupted by Cosmo (voiced by Firefly and Resident Alien star Alan Tudyk), a mysterious robot seemingly controlled by a still-living Christopher. Determined to find him, Michelle embarks on a journey across the American Southwest with Cosmo, teaming up with Keats (Chris Pratt, Guardians of the Galaxy), a former soldier turned smuggler, and his wisecracking robot companion Herman (voiced by current Captain America Anthony Mackie). Their quest leads them to the Exclusion Zone, a walled-off robot enclave, where they uncover a sinister conspiracy involving tech mogul Ethan Skate (Stanley Tucci, The Hunger Games, Conclave) that threatens humans and machines alike.

If the story sounds half-baked, convoluted and just plain stupid, then I’ve succeeded in making it seem more interesting than it is on screen. Despite slick and sumptuous effects and production design, there’s not a moment of this woeful mess that makes a lick of sense, and it’s far too dark and grim to be fun and too stupid to be taken seriously. The Russos know how to direct on a large scale, but it’s becoming clear that they are not a reliable brand name, and are certainly auteurs who can generate their own projects. As skilled impersonators, they can masterfully manufacture Marvel movies with studio head Kevin Feige looking over their shoulders, and they can give a hollow imitation of Oliver Stone with Cherry or a decent John Woo with The Gray Man. The time, the goal is clearly to make a Steven Speilberg sci-fi adventure, yet this is no E.T. or Jurassic Park. Instead, The Electric State feels like A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Ready Player One and, for some reason, the failed 1981 comedy Heartbeeps, have been crammed into a blender and the Russos hit “purée.” The result is comparable to the worst of the Transformers sequels, and a $320 million budget for a movie this dependent on bombastic, big-screen eye candy being made for streaming may be the saddest example of the failure of modern cinema since… well, since the last time Netflix gave a blank check to Zack Snyder. There’s also a dumbfounding dearth of laughs, which is not to say that the movie never tries for them. The comedic highlight of the entire 128-minute runtime is when Michelle apologizes to Mr. Peanut for her unwitting slur in saying, “This whole thing is nuts,” and he forlornly replies, “We get that all the time.”

 Bobby Brown is entering the Danny Glover stage of life, inasmuch as she is getting too old for this shit, and as soon Stranger Things is finally over it’s time for someone to write her a more grown-up role. While she and Norman easily give the best performances, both were playing meatier roles at age 10. Pratt is merely playing a lazy variation on his Starlord character, Mackie is obnoxious and his voice has been altered beyond recognition, and Oscar winner Ke Huy Kwan (Everything Everywhere All At Once) is given nothing to work with do as scientist Dr. Amherst and his robot alter ego. Sadly, faring worst of all is Tucci, a gifted actor who has an innate ability to tap into the heart of any material he’s in. That’s great when he’s doing The Devil Wears Prada, The Terminal or Spotlight. When he’s playing a megalomaniacal supervillain spouting lines like “our world is a tire fire floating in an ocean of piss,” it’s just an ordeal to watch.

The Russos have talent, but they appear to need Marvel more than it needs them, and the only thing that may save The Electric State from becoming a truly legendary bad film is that those kinds of movies tend to develop some sort of cult following, whether it’s from apologists or those who love to gleefully mock it. It’s hard to imagine anyone becoming invested in the odious piece of dreck on either level, and its only value would have been as a massive tax-write off. — Patrick Gibbs.

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