Rating: ***
Review Date: 4/6/25
Music: Alan Silvestri
Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Woody Norman, Stanley Tucci,
Giancarlo Esposito, Ke Huy Quan, Anthony Mackie, Woody Harrelson, Alan Tudyk,
Jason Alexander, Kurt Loder, Helen Hunter
"Our world is a tire fire floating on an ocean of piss."
In a re-imagined 1990s, robots make up a considerable portion of the labor force, and at some point they become sentient and declare war on their human masters. The humans win, due to technological advances promoted by toxic tech bro Ethan Skate (smarmy Stanley Tucci). Any remaining robots are either destroyed or sent to a robot penal colony in Utah. One robot escapes and seeks out a teenaged girl named Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown), which sets in motion a revolution to take down the powerful Sentre Corporation and their brain-rotting neurocaster technology.
The film is loosely based on Simon Stålenhag's 2018 graphic novel, which has been sitting in my enormous pile of unread books ever since it came out. Stålenhag's imagery is dark and ghoulish, combining pop culture with a 1950s aesthetic that makes everything look extremely creepy and unsettling. The film attempts to capture the look of the book, but fails to capitalize on the isolation, ruin, decay, and overall barrenness portrayed in Stålenhag's paintings. With a budget of $355 million, the visual effects look fantastic, but they can't save the disappointing plot.
With such an expensive production, it's no surprise that the filmmakers tried to make the story as mainstream and family-friendly as possible, and it suffers as a result. The film's attempts at comedy are awkward and ineffective, and the horrors of Sentre are watered down to be more generic and palatable. While both Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt do a fine job, they both feel out of place and sorely miscast. Chris Pratt does his usual schtick, but it's hard to tell if he's supposed to be funny or not. Giancarlo Esposito shows up as a ruthless assassin hunting down Michelle's robot pal, which seems to be the only role he plays these days. The robot characters don't fare any better, and while they're all quirky, none of them are particularly likable. The film is tonally all over the place and can't decide whether it's comedy, action, science fiction, or dystopian thriller. It's a jumbled mess to say the least, and the film fails to keep the audience engaged.
"The Electric State" is not a bad film, just a disappointing and misguided one. It's definitely a style over substance production, but the style can't overcome the shortcomings of the story, the weak characters, and the cringey dialog.