Directed By Joe and Anthony Russo

Starring – Chris Pratt, Millie Bobby Brown, Woody Harrelson

The Plot – Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Simon Stålenhag, the story takes place in a reimagined version of 1997. With humans isolated in their VR helmets and a continuing battle against a strange breed of monstruous drones in the wake of a technological meltdown, a teenage girl named Michelle (Brown) and a robot travel the West Coast of the U.S in search of the girl’s missing brother (Woody Norman).

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence/action, adult language and some thematic material.

The Electric State | Final Trailer | Netflix

POSITIVES

An abundance of unforeseen issues to the engagement doesn’t take away a few credible merits in the movie’s favor to keep it from being among the year’s worst, primarily with the surprising abundance of stakes to the proceedings that earns every inch of its hard PG-13. This is not to say that “The Electric State” is overly violent or gratuitous, but rather that it has a way of inserting a few key surprises to the climax that didn’t exactly resolve this film the way that I initially perceived. This is because of the film’s most valuable but least explored dynamic between its siblings, which not only inscribes a firm element of heart to this mission continuously overwhelmed by humor and science-fiction, but also a hearty center at this film’s mostly monotonous core that tapped into humanity at the exact moments that the film so desperately needed it, speaking wonders to the kind of dark emphasis in exploration that the Russo brothers aren’t above pursuing, especially while tapping into the tender vulnerabilities of its characters, which at least makes them relatable. On top of the stakes, I didn’t find the special effects to be as jarring or confrontational as other critics have alluded to, with some of the robotic designs requiring a closer examination to define if in fact there was any practical influence to their captures. With “The Electric State” clocking in at a remarkable 300 million dollar budget, it proves that at least some of that budget went towards attaining a tangibility towards their textures that plays particularly well with Stephen F. Windon’s weathered cinematography, even if the color grading within his presentation failed to match the personality and color schemes of what us in the 90’s grew up adoring. Lastly, while the performances from such a deep-rooted ensemble of heavy hitters mostly turns up without needle-moving impact, the work from Stanley Tucci here as the movie’s primary antagonist proves he’s simply too good to be a part of movies beneath him, with Shakespearian deliveries to such ham-fisted dialogue that made his character feel menacing without coming across as cartoonish. Tucci’s strongest quality is his conviction towards mixed messaging that effortlessly contains a nefarious underlining, and while he mostly acts in the psychological shadows against his adversaries, his influence can be felt in every measurable notoriety, speaking volumes about the level of class and professionalism that he brings to every role, regardless of its quality.

NEGATIVES

While there have certainly been superior and inferior films this year to that of “The Electric State”, the lack of memorability to its blandly lifeless execution stands unopposed to a single one of them, making this another derivatively redundant and highly expensive Netflix mockbuster meant to fill a quota, instead of grip an audience. The most obvious example of this blandness comes from the depths of its familiar screenplay, with elements in everything from Michael Bay’s “Transformers”, to “The Terminator”, to especially “Ready Player One” that this movie wants so badly to effectively emulate, but instead can’t summon compelling characters or meaningful momentum towards a film whose journey in exploration feels double of the necessity of its nearly two hour run time, leading to a mostly dragging engagement that continuously fails to leave a lasting impression of originality to its own directional impulses. While we’ve seen a platitude of machines revolting movies, the humanized influence over their devastation could’ve led to something compelling to outline us being responsible for our own demise, but the script doesn’t add anything original or meaningful to the ages-old gimmick, and the lack of thematic exploration has us dividing our time between flatly ineffective humor and underwhelming action that stand as the film’s two biggest compromising oppositions. Even as I currently type this, I wonder if the comedy or the action fails louder, as the former’s lack of effort or originality makes it fail humiliatingly with actors who are comedy heavyweights, while the latter lacks any of the crisp fight choreography or even discernable clarity that makes them feel effortlessly detectable. The action could certainly be saved with more movements out of the choppily artificial characters, whose weight in design takes away from their fluidity of their motions, or even more Earthly tones towards the aforementioned cinematography, granting us clarity to the coherence of the character’s actions, but there’s nothing grippingly intense or urgent about the way these sequences are constructed, and the result ends up being these flatly dramatic and overly edited confrontations that underwhelm the movie’s most defining characteristics, giving it more in common with the abundance of Netflix trash that outline the dramatic divide between streaming and cinema. In turn, the performances from what is arguably one of the best ensembles put together in 2025 are also compromising to the kind of radiant charisma and big screen influence that stems from so many familiar faces, lead and supporting, that should’ve led to these dream team interactions, but instead doesn’t attain a single credible performance between them. Chris Pratt has always been someone who is either hit or miss with me, and with The Russo’s direction essentially outlining him to once again portray Star-Lord here, there’s nothing unconventional or original about his portrayal, with lackadaisical material that can’t even meet him halfway towards feeling even accidentally charming. For Millie Bobby Brown, it’s another turn inside of an underdeveloped Netflix manufactured character that has diminished the appeal of her career’s second act, this time with bitchingly unrelatable attitude that doesn’t come close to a compelling protagonist, all the while underscoring the magnitude and appeal of her periodic dramatic impulses to confrontational moments that doesn’t challenge the actress in ways that extend her capabilities as an actress. Beyond the two leads, the stacked ensemble voicing these robots are just as forgettable, as Woody Harrelson, Alan Tudyk, Giancarlo Esposito, Ke Huy Quan, Anthony Mackie, Hank Azaria, Jenny Slate, and especially Colman Domingo are ruthlessly and unforgivably wasted with the lack of opportunities casually presented to them, and while it leads to a surprise behind every corner with their emphasized arrivals, it comes across as shilling for cameo porn that makes any movie feel desperate, where The Russo Brothers have clearly tapped into their connections in order to convince audiences that the movie is far better than it actually is in reality. Speaking of forceful convincing, the film’s 90’s dominated soundtrack attempts to invigorate nostalgia to the ears of its audience, despite so many of them feeling as random and contextually irrelevant as they scenes and sequences that they feverishly accompany. It’s bad enough that the production steps on the toes of legendary music composer Alan Silvestri, though his compositions here feel like reheated Avengers themes, but it’s worse when they’re comprised of these artificial emotional impulses meant to forcefully spoon-feed an audience, and while I do enjoy some of these tracks, they don’t necessarily fit naturally in their usage here, leaving it feeling like the Russo’s tried to channel some of that “Guardians of the Galaxy” flare for pop culture, but for alternate timelines that shouldn’t involve them contextually, based on their timely release as being later than the 1996 timeframe set in the film. Finally, for a 300-million-dollar budget, there’s little outside of inconsistent special effects and a decorated ensemble that makes the most of that money, particularly with Windon’s aforementioned presentation giving the visuals a very unappealingly ugly consistency that doesn’t play well on the picturesque clarity of an at home flat screen television. Beyond this, the greenscreen backdrops aren’t as apparent as something like “In the Lost Lands”, but they definitely feel apparent during a few key sequences throughout the movie’s climactic third act, attaining an even more distracting emphasis to those aforementioned lifeless action sequences, giving way to the notion that somebody somewhere weaseled a majority’s share of the production’s 300 million dollar price tag that it doesn’t even come close to realizing on the screen.

OVERALL
“The Electric State” is the latest Netflix tax write-off with enough waste in its decorated ensemble and horrendous presentation to fuel its own virtual wastelands similar to the kind portrayed in its alternate 90’s timeline. Despite a memorable climax involving meaningfully fearless stakes, the film is a mostly forgettable and bland engagement that is not even suited to effortlessly burn two hours from the tedium and monotony of a dull day, instead feeling every bit as hollow and soulless as the very droids depicted in the film, with an equally directionless sense of purpose that has it feeling like a bucket of bolts.

My Grade: 3.7 or F