"The Electric State" Review

The Russo Brothers should stick to Marvel

Netflix spent $320 million on a film where deepfake Bill Clinton signs a treaty with Mr. Peanut and yet it is not the worst blockbuster featuring Anthony Mackie and Giancarlo Esposito released this year.

Arguments that Hollywood no longer makes good movies have always seemed more founded on ignorance than reality. In a week where The Day The Earth Blew Up and Black Bag also released, it is still wrong. And yet, The Electric State is one of the strongest arguments in favor of the decline of American cinema, not just because it is bad, but because it isn’t as bad as most of the competition.

The Electric State, the latest effort from Avengers: Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo, is set in the 1990s. Millie Bobby Brown plays Michelle, a foster child living in the aftermath of her family’s tragic death and a massive war between humans and robots. These bots are not just any, but animatronic mascots fictional and real. The Che Guevara of the group is Mr. Peanut as voiced by Woody Harrelson. Other members include (fictional) baseball mascot Pop Fly (Brian Cox), post officer Penny Pal (Jenny Slate), and many others. The robots were winning the war until tech executive Ethan Skate (Stanley Tucci) designed remote-controlled humanoid drones that turned the tide and forced the bots into the “exclusion zone”. After the war, the drones became Ready Player One-esque virtual reality escapes that allow humanity to essentially duplicate themselves and be enslaved to technology. *deep breath*

Michelle, living with an abusive foster father (Seinfeld’s Jason Alexander), meets a rogue robot version of her late brother’s (Woody Norman) favorite cartoon character who may or may not be him. With this hope, Michelle finds herself led into the Exclusion Zone under the reluctant care of smuggler Keats (Chris Pratt). That is the basic premise. If you are a fan of the original book, definitely skip the film as it butchers the material.

One of the most controversial aspects of the Russos has been their relative embrace of AI. This film is their manifesto. Works centered on AI can be hard to parse out as the technology can often be the theme or the subtext. There is an argument for AI as subtext for a story about colonization here. The robots are put into a literal reservation and must mount a violent revolt. But because of the directors’ comments, I took it more as ardently pro-AI.

Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely center the story on a battle between technology as independent (AI) and as dependence-forming (drones). AI gives the opportunity to create technology that supports while letting us live an analog life. This is the first piece of media on the topic I have seen that takes this angle. For that, it is interesting. As far as AI media goes, The Electric State is far better than The Creator, for instance, while still “humanizing” the robots.

These machines are one of the best parts of the film. The visual effects in almost every scene are top-notch. In a time where Red One costs $200 million and yet looks like it was rendered by Paul W.S. Anderson with a blindfold, this is refreshing. It is the best VFX since Dune: Part Two. The robots have real weight and presence. The Russos are also not entirely reliant on technologies like The Volume, too. The production design, which mixes Fallout with 90s nostalgia, lends every space a lived-in quality. Cinematographer Stephen F. Windon does a decent rip-off of the Spielberg style. Barring the hideous wigs on the leads, The Electric State is technically well-made.

The leads in Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt, though, are hopelessly lost. Brown may be suffering from Gal Gadot syndrome, as in she was perfect for one role but not a versatile actor. Woody Norman does a fantastic job of playing her brother and Brown is able to match him when necessary, even if she largely flops elsewhere. Pratt is playing a less funny version of Peter Quill. His character is given little to do after the plot set-up. He is the center of the film’s humor, which fails 90% of the time. Pratt does play well off his robot companion Herman (Anthony Mackie). Both leads frankly seem miscast.

The ensemble of The Electric State is massive and most of the players are wasted. Holly Hunter, Ke Huy Quan, Rahul Kohli, and Patti Harrison make brief appearances and are completely wasted. Colman Domingo gets one fun scene before disappearing. Giancarlo Esposito continues to be typecast as a cold and calculating villain. The only actors who have any decent bearing on the strange script are Woody Norman and Stanley Tucci’s hammy antagonist.

The first half of the film which establishes the world is surprisingly engaging. Unfortunately, the story devolves into an uninteresting climactic action scene that takes up a sizable chunk of the runtime. The strong suit of the Russos is not action. It is the character moments in Avengers: Endgame we remember the most.

Thanks to solid VFX, The Electric State could be far more painful to sit through. The pacing is fast enough to keep the viewer from falling asleep. It is watchable content. But should we settle for that? Decent original films are released to nearly empty theaters because general audiences have yielded to algorithmic content and theaters have admittedly offered an expensive but underwhelming experience. If the anti-tech dependence message of The Electric State has a real impact, it should be to stop watching movies like it.