The Electric State (2025)

★★1/2 The latest big-budget release from Netflix fails to capitalise on its promising dystopian premise. Instead it lumbers along without really exploring its central themes surrounding humanity and our reliance on technology.

Watch Mar 29, 2025 0 14 Add to Reading List

Dir: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Ke Huy Quan, Jason Alexander, Wood Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Giancarlo Esposito, Stanley Tucci

The latest big-budget release from Netflix fails to capitalise on its promising dystopian premise. Instead it lumbers along without really exploring its central themes surrounding humanity and our reliance on technology

Back in 2019, filmmaking siblings Anthony and Joe Russo were riding high following the release of “Avengers: Endgame”, the epic grand finale to the unprecedented Phase 3 of the new tiresome Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the Infinity Saga was widely praised following its conclusion over five years ago, many forget that the MCU was lacking in any overarching structure prior to the Russo Brothers’ involvement. The release of “Iron Man” in 2008 is generally considered to be the birth of the MCU, which technically is correct, however, I would argue that the universe-expanding franchise officially came into its own following the release of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” six years later in 2014, the first of four films in the franchise to be helmed by the Russo Brothers.

Having played such a huge part in creating one of the biggest cinematic franchises of all time, one would expect the Russo Brothers to move on to even bigger and brighter things. However, over the six years since their last involvement with Disney and Marvel, the brothers have struggled to establish themselves as respected filmmakers outside of the superhero genre. Having been given generous budgets to work with on multiple occasions, Anthony and Joe Russo have struggled to repeat the financial and critical successes of their works with Marvel, with their first two films post “Endgame” being panned by critics and audiences alike. Their first major release was the 2021 crime drama “Cherry”, which started Tom Holland in a rare dramatic role. Having been released on streaming platform Apple+, the Russos were unable to recapture the spectacle of their previous successes, and a completely miscast Holland also struggled to adapt to a role away from Peter Parker/Spiderman.

The second post-Endgame release from the siblings saw them reunite with yet another member of Marvel alumni, Chris Evans, in the instantly forgettable action flick “The Gray Man”, also starring Ryan Gosling. At the time of its release, the cliched and predictable actioner was the most expensive film produced by Netflix, costing the streaming giant upward of $200 million. This figure has seemingly been blown out the water by Netflix with their latest collaboration with the Russo Brothers, “The Electric State”. Released earlier this month, the sci-fi action/adventure has reportedly cost a whopping $350 million, making it one of the most expensive films of all time, yet it will never be seen on the big screen.

Production on the film began back in 2018 when Anthony and Joe acquired the rights to Simon Stalenhag‘s illustrated novel of the same name. Following multiple changes in distributor, the project ultimately found its way to Netflix, meaning since directing one of the highest grossing movies of all time, the Russo Brothers have released three successive movies direct to streaming platforms.

Prior to watching “The Electric State”, I admit I was not aware of the original source material but believe it was a huge success with literary critics and readers worldwide, who universally praised its gritty, dystopian setting. The same cannot be said however for this theatrical adaptation, which despite a promising setup fails do deliver the grit and bleakness that even the most basic dystopian sci-fi should be striving for.

“The Electric State” Trailer | Netflix

Set in an alternative 1994, following a worldwide war between humans and robots that has left the planet in disarray, “The Electric State” follows teenage girl, Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown), as she struggles to live with her abusive foster dad, Ted (Jason Alexander). Years prior, Michelle was involved in a car crash, in which her parents and younger brother, Christopher (Woody Norman), were reportedly killed. She also struggles at school due to her refusal to use the virtual reality like Neurocaster to participate in classes remotely. The Neurocaster was initially developed by tech guru Ethan Slate (Stanley Tucci), as means for humans to upload their minds into drone robots to help win the war for mankind, resulting in the surviving robots being banished to the “exclusion zone”.

Michelle is sought out by the sentient robot Cosmo, who, despite only being able to communicate through pre-recorded dialogue from an old television show, manages to convince her that he is controlled by her “deceased” brother. Believing Christopher to be a live, Michelle and Cosmo set out across the dystopian landscape to find him, stumbling across war veteran-turned-scrap collector, Keats (Chris Pratt), and sentient construction robot Herman (Anthony Mackie).

Having caught up with “The Electric State” a week or so after its release on Netflix, I was already well aware of the negative critical and audience reception of the film. This had me going into my viewing with little-to-no expectations, and while it may not be the best film to have graced the big or small screen in recent times, I found it slightly more enjoyable than I was anticipating. Undeniably there are problems, a few of them in fact, but there is nothing offensively bad neither to warrant too much criticism. Personally, I would put “The Electric State” in the category of “films I am likely to forget exist by the end of the year”, which, while it may not be too negative, is not that great neither.

On a positive note, the 128 minute runtime went by relatively quickly, making for a perfectly adequate viewing experience on a lazy day, or if you just want something on in the background – like a said, not negative but not great neither. There are some definite positives though, particularly with some of the robot designs and how they seamlessly interact with the human characters and dystopian backdrop. I was particularly impressed with Herman’s design, a construction-bot who can occupy different sizes of the same model, ranging from several inches tall to several storeys. The visuals themself are generally quiet bland, with the uninspired cinematography and bland colour palette adding nothing to the alternative-period setting, but the jankiness of the robots themselves just about compensate for this.

Overall, “The Electric State” seems to be a missed opportunity, with Anthony and Joe Russo implementing a narrative safety net, by reverting back to the humour and action one would associate with the MCU. This forced, and unfunny humour, mostly delivered by an increasingly annoying Chris Pratt, takes up way too much of an underwhelming script. Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, frequent collaborators with the Russo Brothers, fail to attempt to tackle the numerous themes that could have made this lacklustre adaptation somewhat impactful. Somewhere buried deep beneath the plethora of poorly timed jokes and perilous action set-pieces, is a deep and meaningful exploration of modern day society, and our over reliance on technology. Despite technically taking place in the past, “The Electric State” could have served as a warning as to what is to come to the human race, if we are to continue on our trajectory of relying on artificial intelligence and technology. The Neurocaster, which is theatrically compatible to the OASIS in Steven Spielberg‘s adaptation of Ernest Cline‘s novel “Ready Player One”, reflects our dependence on our phones, and how we as a society continue to share our thoughts and feelings online, rather than in person.

With nothing developed underneath the surface, the more “emotional” beats in “The Electric State” fail to land, as Millie Bobby Brown’s Michelle pursues to save her brother from falling to victim to corporate greed. Much like the Russos, Brown herself has struggled to progress her career in recent years, as the 21-year-old continues to to be tied contractually to Netflix. The “Stranger Things” star only has seven movie credits to her name, despite playing the lead character in one of the biggest TV sensations of the past decade.

The impressive supporting cast are seriously underused, with the likes of Tucci, Esposito and Quan being reduced to two-dimensional caricatures, not to mention the abundance of stars limited to voice roles. The best member of the ensemble by far is Woody Norman, who’s character is the only one you feel any empathy towards, a solid but limited performance by the young “C’mon C’mon” actor.

While it drops the ball on multiple levels, both narratively and thematically, whilst also failing to accurately adapt the source material, “The Electric State” remains just about watchable thanks to some decent world building and strong pacing. Not the best film by any means but there is far worse out there, the real challenge is remembering if you have or have not already seen it before.

The Electric State is now available to stream on Netflix