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 (062625)
There are many reasons fans of genre films in
general and comic films in particular will be tempted to check out Electric
State. Firstly, it was directed by the Russo brothers (Anthony and Joe) who made
both Avengers Infinity War (2018) and Avengers End Game (2019), two of the most
highly regarded Marvel U films. Secondly it features both MCU alum Chris (Starlord)
Pratt, and Millie Bobby Brown from Stranger Things in prominent roles. In
addition, Andre (Captain America/Falcon) Mackie voices the robot sidekick and
many non-Marvel U celebrities like Woody Harrelson, Jason Alexander, and Jenny
Slate do the voices of some of the other characters, but their vocal
recognizability often distracts from the story.
The film is an adaptation of the 2018 Swedish dystopian science fiction
illustrated novel (The Passage) by Simon Stålenhag, a work which I am not
familiar with. The story takes place in an alternative 1990's reality where the
exploited worker robots rebel and go to war against humans in a Blade Runner or
Terminator-like situation. The plot revolves around a Michelle (Millie Bobby
Brown)), an R2D2
like droid (Cosmo), and a sidekick Keates (Chris Pratt) looking for her lost (dead?) brother in a desolate
wasteland.
According to many of the book’s lovers, this film version is vastly inferior compared
to the illustrated novel and has taken the subject matter and dumbed it way down.
While I can't attest to the source materials narrative skill or relative
intelligence, it has to be smarter more profound than this adaptation.
The productions biggest problem is the ponderous script, which is dumb, by the
numbers, and at times nonsensical. Like the worst music of Queen, it manages to
be both pretentious and juvenile at the same time. The script replaces any
meaningful introspection with cheesy bad throwaway Marvel U type quips. The film conveys confused
messages about technological change. Electric State warns about the dangers of
technology, and it seems to be implying we should use caution in advancing
technologically and cautiously slow down. At the same time the ghettoization of robots portrayed in the film seems wrong seems to be lecturing
us to just accept artificial beings and even perhaps give them rights. The not
too subtle parallel between the robot internment camp and the critiquing the
warehoused Asians during World War II and/or the mistreatment of today’s
undocumented workers lands with a thud instead of a thoughtful metaphor.
Other messages and societal critiques fly fast and furious but land with little
impact.
On one hand the film seems to be critiquing crass commercialism and the
corporatization of modern society, yet the film is filled with bad, campy
product placements and the ridiculous head of the robot army resembles Mr.
Peanut. We are told that Disney invented robots in this reality and this is used
as an excuse to cram cartoon characters into the narrative. It’s hard to know
what the film is saying because it’s easy to surmise that the film makers
themselves do not even seem to know. The robot army is led by Mr. Peanut (Woody Harrelson) and at one point the
robots seemed likely to win. But then an evil corporatist played Stanley Tucci invents a device that allows humans to win because they can control drones
from afar. After the humans crush the robot rebellion and workers’ rights are
denied the government holds a celebration that treats citizens to a show by Kid
Rock which seems like it’s a too obvious attack on Trump and MAGA. The robots
that survive settle in their own territory where they can live in peace in a
place separated from the human dwellings.
The most sympathetic character is the orphan Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown) who
is dressed like she is going to a riot grrrl band audition. She befriends a
charming and roguish smuggler named Keats (Chris Pratt). Pratt gives a lazy
performance basically just playing a duller, less likable version of his
Starlord character from the Guardians of the Galaxy films. She enlists his aid
to find her missing brother and she is horrified to find out his consciousness
was downloaded into an android who lives in the robot encampment. During one
fight scene in which music he doesn’t like plays, Keats proclaims: “I’m not
going to die during a Marky Mark song,” which is exactly the type of thing the
classic rock fan Starlord would say.
Another big problem is that the film does not always blend the special effects
well with real people or places. We rarely feel like the human characters ever
occupy the same space as the droids. Many Star Trek shows, Blade Rumer and even
Lost in Space proved that androids or bots can be portrayed as sympathetically
as humans but the artificial beings here are completely generic and forgettable.
The Russo Brothers who made the film are among the highest grossing film makers
of all time just trailing behind James (Avatar)
Cameron and quite a bit behind Steven Spielberg. Since they left Marvel to form
their own production company, they have made two other films:
Cherry
(which I liked) and
The Gray Man
which had bad reviews and low ratings. Both are
expensive films, and both seemed destined to lose money.
The Electric State probably will not do much to improve the Russos ‘diminishing
reputation. The film is neither original, nor gripping nor memorable. What
happens in the film barely qualifies as a story. It plays more like a collection
of bad outtakes from various Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy films.
Isolated parts of the film succeed, but the cumulative effect is profoundly
disappointing and ridiculous. The recent film The Creator is also about a war
between humans and robots, but that film is better in every way.
One of the few positives which made the film at least tolerable for me is that it is set in one
of my favorite eras: the 90s. The film is filled with great songs from the era
from the heavy metal anthem, Breaking the Law to many alternative hits. Mother
by Danzig, I Fought the La by the Clash and Flaming Lip’s beautiful Yoshima vs
the Pink Robots which is from a fine rock opera about a kung fu girl that
battles giant robots; come to think of it, that story might have made a better
movie. The MCU's
Captain Marvel
also took place in the 1990s, and also had some references and songs from the
alternative era to help set its tone. They are better integrated here, and the
songs are more reflective of the themes of this movie. So at least there the
movie manages to scrape together one of its few pluses .
Electric State lowers the bar for big budget sci-fi films and it should be
avoided at all costs unless you are a Chris Pratt fan and feel the need to see
everything the actor ever does. If Netflix continues making films this
predictable and pointless, customers will have lowered expectations and
subscription rates are bound to go down.
The year is almost half over but only a very few films I have seen so far have
left a bad taste in my mouth and been such almost complete trains wrecks.
I really wonder what the target audience is here; it seems like it was made for grade
school misanthropic wanna-be intellectuals. Electric State will probably earn some Razzie nominations and it is bound to be
remembered as one of the worst films of 2025.
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