The Electric State is the worst kind of film; it’s emotionally hollow every step of the way, embarrassingly mediocre, yet it cost US$320 million to make, an absurd amount of moolah that would have been better spent on better films with smaller budgets.
The film is centred around the relationship between Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown) and her younger savant brother Christopher (Woody Norman). Michelle and Christopher are close, or so the movie tells us, feeding us contrived scenes between the two that fail to establish any proper sense of relationship. After a car accident that kills her entire family, Michelle becomes a ward of the state, and she’s living in a dystopian world where humans can connect their consciousness to robots. It’s a rather on the nose metaphor for modern society’s reliance on the internet and various devices. The irony is that this movie was so dull that it made me want to use my phone more than ever.
While living with her horrid foster parent, a robot named Cosmo – modelled after a cartoon of the same name – shows up at her place of residence, insisting that it has information on her brother. But isn’t Christopher dead? Michelle is determined to find out the truth, and so begins the adventure with Cosmo and smugglers Keats (Chris Pratt) and Herman (Anthony Mackie).
Michelle isn’t given much character development besides her desire to find her brother. In the early parts of the movie, we observe that she’s the only one who refuses to use the technology offered readily in schools, yet this has no pay-off later on. Keats and Herman are in the film to provide the comedy, and there were some funny bits between them, but so much of their characterisation feels borrowed from funnier duos. Keats even felt reminiscent of fat Thor in some moments. The film also can’t quite decide if it wants him to be a stud or this goofy character. Pratt’s had success playing both sides of the coin in many of his roles, but it just doesn’t work here.
Brown is just unable to conjure up the proper spirit to play a character like Michelle. It almost feels like she’s bored with the character, and quite a number of her scenes lack conviction. How then can other characters feel inspired by her and her enduring love for her brother when we feel none of it? It’s disappointing to see Ke Huy Quan typecast as the quirky man of science, practically identical to the Ouroboros character he played in Loki season 2. The wig they made him wear is absolutely awful – I know the 90s is known for bad hair but this feels like a step too far.
The film is so devoid of tension and stakes that even when the characters tell me a situation is dangerous, I just don’t buy it. What is also unforgiveable is how the film wastes the talents of Stanley Tucci and Giancarlo Esposito. You get Stanley Tucci to play the villain and this is the most you can offer him? There’s no dialogue for him to sink his teeth into, with villainous motivations so basic it’s like they copied his arc from ChatGPT.
The only words he says worth remembering is: “I don’t care” – words that sum up this travesty of a movie, that commits the worst crime of being so dull it’s not even memorable like a really bad movie. The Electric State is yet another dud from the Russo brothers, who have failed to truly capitalise on their post Avengers: Endgame success.
REVIEW SCORE: 1.5/5
