The Electric State Review: A Surprisingly Dull, Retro Sci-Fi Blockbuster Wannabe
It’s go big or go home for the Russo brothers’ latest big-budget blockbuster The Electric State, where the deep-pocketed Netflix granted them a whopping US$320 million at their disposal. The result? The special effects team impress with their impeccable CGI from the colourful robot designs to blending them seamlessly with the human actors occupying the same space. It has none of the glaringly obvious green screen or shoddy-looking VFX works.
Too bad the movie lacks the much-needed components: heart and soul and not to mention, a sense of thrilling fun and entertainment. It’s hard to believe that a movie with such a massive budget can be boring. Yes, boring. A little over two hours — 128 minutes, to be exact — of mostly mundane and lifeless sci-fi adventure. Even enlisting Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, both MCU’s screenwriting veterans, to adapt Simon Stålenhag’s 2018 illustrated novel of the same name could only muster a surface-level screenplay.
It’s not like the premise isn’t fascinating since the story takes place in the alternate ’90s era, where the once-harmless robots supporting the global workforce have since rebelled against humanity as they gradually demand equality and freedom. Led by the outspoken Mr. Peanut (voiced by Woody Harrelson), who used to function as a Planters’ promotional bot, the robot begins their rebellion and this leads to the U.S. President Bill Clinton declaring war against the robot population. The president even comes up with a new law that any U.S. citizens harbouring a robot will be charged as treason.
The war drags on for years until a tech billionaire from Sentre, Ethan Skate (Stanley Tucci) steps up and offers the government a winning solution. And that is by mechanising the drone bodies linking to the soldiers’ minds through a virtual-reality helmet called the Neurocaster. The technology works and the robots are finally defeated before the government banish them far away in the exclusion zone.
Once the alternate 1990s era is established in an effectively summarised form, the story finally gets underway with the blonde Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown), a rebellious and orphaned teenager living with her lazy foster dad Ted (Jason Alexander), who spends his time sitting on his chair all day long with a Neurocaster in his head to let his droid avatar doing the chores. We learn that Michelle has lost her beloved child-prodigy younger brother Christopher (Woody Norman) and her parents during a tragic car accident. When she’s in school, she refuses to put on the Neurocaster, even though it’s mandatory because she prefers to stick to reality.
Then, one night, everything changes with the arrival of a robot named Kid Combo (voiced by Alan Tudyk) breaking into Ted’s house and demanding Michelle’s help. A few misunderstandings later, she reluctantly agrees and next thing she knows, they are on a journey to find a doctor (Ke Huy Quan), who is somewhere in the Tabletop mountain. The catch? It’s located right in the middle of the exclusion zone, a prison that no exiled robots can break out. And yet, Kid Cosmo trusts her she can do it.
So, where is Chris Pratt in this? You have to wait around 25 minutes or so before he finally shows up playing a wisecracking smuggler, Keats, who has a robot assistant named Herman (voiced by Anthony Mackie). They eventually cross paths and end up helping each other. But not without facing obstacles like dealing with a RDTF (Robot Deactivation Task Force) hunter bot (Giancarlo Esposito).
Despite the interesting premise, the execution tells a different story. The Russo brothers seem to be on the autopilot with this one, evidently in their soulless direction and an overall feeble adapted screenplay that tries to reflect the real-world scenario surrounding themes like social equality along with the bright and dark sides of technology. And yet, the story meanders more than often and at times, gets mushy with the melodramatic side coming from Michelle’s arc.
Forget about high stakes either since what we get here is repetitive action scenes and I’m surprised to see the Russo brothers barely do much to make them visceral or propulsive. Where are the same Russo brothers who gave us Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame? Even in their previous Netflix’s The Gray Man, they know how to stage exciting action set pieces. Not so in The Electric State, where the action barely generates any sense of excitement.
The cast isn’t any better either with Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt share shockingly zero chemistry. Ke Huy Quan and Giancarlo Esposito are both wasted in their respectively underwritten roles while Stanley Tucci’s otherwise stealthy charm in his antagonist role as Ethan Skate lacks a solid character arc. The only saving grace in the cast is the voice performances, namely Anthony Mackie and Woody Harrelson as Herman and Mr. Peanut. The movie is also overlong, drags every now and then, making it a chore to sit through.
The Electric State is currently streaming on Netflix.
