Cinema from the Spectrum

The Electric State is a movie that cost over $300 million to make. If this movie were released theatrically, you can only imagine that it would probably take the moniker for being the biggest money loss since Disney had the one-two punch of releasing John Carter and The Lone Ranger one year after another. Except the Russo brothers aren’t filmmakers who have instincts nearly as interesting as Andrew Stanton or Gore Verbinski respectively, for they don’t have art on their minds. They seem to have the resources that would allow them to make blockbusters for a very long time, but frankly they don’t have any of the same artistic drive that would make a fascinating box office bomb either. What we’re left with instead is just a movie with no drive whatsoever.

Set within an alternative history dystopia following a war between humans and robots, this adventure follows the teenage Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown), an orphaned girl presently living under an abusive household. After an encounter with a sentient robot named Cosmo (Alan Tudyk) supposedly controlled by her long-lost brother, she bonds together with John D. Keats (Chris Pratt), a veteran who now works as a smuggler and his own sidekick, a sentient but dynamic robot named Herman (Anthony Mackie) in order to find her brother. It’s a very basic template for any adventure scenario, but there’s frankly no ambitions to go beyond what’s been done before – for the Russo brothers never allow time for introspection as they’re also satisfied with their own spectacle.

Given the source material that the Russo brothers have chosen to adapt, the choice to take a dystopian work that reckons with humanity’s own ongoing obsession with artifiical intelligence and turn it into a bland adventure is among its most marginal offenses. Surely enough, films that have explored the relationships that people have with artificial intelligence have at least tried to opt for a more contemplative tone – among perfect examples have included Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner or Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artifiical Intelligence. Recently, Gareth Edwards had attempted his own spin on this with The Creator, a film that doesn’t always work but presents interesting ideas that would at least point towards some sense of ambition. But the Russo brothers never want to do any of that.

With the film’s budget ballooning to over $320 million, you can’t help but wonder how much of that was spent properly. A budget that’s almost comparable to the likes of recent blockbusters that have included Avatar: The Way of Water and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, The Electric State just simply looks garish all around. It’s an unpleasant movie to look at, especially considering how this premise would lend itself well to something so colourful or more inventive. But if their work on Avengers: Infinity War or Endgame was anything to by, this does not come off as much of a surprise. The Russo brothers do not have any particular aesthetic to make their work stand out, they have a particular pastiche then stick with it as much as possible – and thus they bring out a wholly lifeless blockbuster all around.

This lack of ambition from the Russo brothers does not only result in actors having nothing to do, but the archetypes which they are playing feeling like nothing more than stock. Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, and Stanley Tucci have very little to show for in The Electric State. Anthony Mackie doesn’t have very much to show for beyond trying a comic relief who only delivers the one-liners, but they only end up feeling like a distraction in the grand scheme of things. Brian Cox, Woody Harrelson, Jenny Slate, Colman Domingo, and Hank Azaria are among the many talents who are brought in to voice the many robots that make up this premise, but the Russos never seem to have anything to utilize the extent of the talents that they have all brought in. They simply exist to perform one function and have nothing else beyond it.

A fun math fact that was pointed out on social media is this: the entire budget of this movie could have financed the last fourteen Best Picture winners. Instead, what we got was The Electric State. But perhaps that’s why they might seem at home within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, because this lack of a distinct brand might be perfect in the establishing of a totally homogenous brand. There’s no desire from the Russo brothers to enter a contemplative territory which many films about humans and their relationship to artificial intelligence would have brought forth in the past. It functions like a loud, thoughtless, and empty vessel that takes the shape of a popular blockbuster. It feels as artificial as the robots that are shown on the screen.

Watch the trailer right here.

All images via Netflix.

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo
Screenplay by Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, from the graphic novel by Simon Stålenhag
Produced by Russell Ackerman, Chris Castaldi, Mike Larocca, Patrick Newall, Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Starring Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Ke Huy Quan, Jason Alexander, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Giancarlo Esposito, Stanley Tucci, Alan Tudyk
Premiere Date: February 24, 2025
Running Time: 128 minutes