The Electric State

• Produced and Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo
• February 24, 2025 (Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre) / March 14, 2025 (US)
• Netflix
• Loosely based on the 2018 illustrated novel The Electric State by Simon Stålenhag

An orphaned young woman with a mysterious robot travels to find her long-lost brother and teams up with a smuggler and his robot sidekick.

I was excited for The Electric State when I first heard about it. After viewing it I’m just indifferent on it at a good moment. It is a long slog that swings from silly to serious but never gets you to care.

Robot revolutions have been a part of entertainment for quite some time. From the likes of Magnus, Robot Fighter to the Terminator movies and any number of knock offs that followed them, the robots rebelling against humanity story has come along in one form or another. Most I have found watchable for at least one viewing. Those other revolts were never headed up by Mr. Peanut (voice of Woody Harrelson) though like the one in The Electric State. Not joking. A Mr. Peanut robot lead the failed revolt.

In the context of the story the robots here were designed by Disney to work in their theme parks and eventually spread throughout the world into all aspects of life. These robots got tired of the jobs they had been assigned by humans and rebelled. They started by wigging out individually before getting organized and forming an actual army. Defeated they are rounded up into a large area called the Exclusion Zone where humans are not allowed.

The Electric State involves a young woman named Michelle Greene (Millie Bobby Brown) that based on very little other than a strange robot pointing to a picture of her brother comes to believe that her brother is somehow actually alive even though she was told not that long ago he died. I’m assuming there was a funeral where Michelle got to see the body unless he was cremated in which case I could get why she wouldn’t know he was still alive. But who thinks cremation first? I’m getting off track…

I can’t think of anything special about Millie Bobby Brown’s performance. Nothing great or anything bad. It’s serviceable for the material. She certainly gets plenty of positive press but none of that hype is confirmed here. She is all teenager with an attitude and nothing else.

Eventually Michelle stumbles across a loner named Keats (Chris Pratt) who regularly sneaks into the Exclusion Zone for collectibles yet does not seem capable enough to survive the implied danger there. So what if he is a former soldier? That does not make him capable. He plays the same sort of jerk yet not bad guy he played in the GOTG trilogy of even the Jurassic World films. It has worked for him but does not help this film. He even gets berated by his robot sidekick Herman (voice of Anthony Mackie).

Stanley Tucci as Ethan Skate is the villain of the movie and quite possibly the best thing about The Electric State. He is probably one of my favorite performers. Always amazing to watch and generally a scene stealer. When discussing him I often cite his performance as Merlin in Transformers: Last Knight. A level of undeserved quality in a pile of fecal matter. He can make anything better! He’s no different here. What could’ve easily been a one note villain is given something more. It is very watchable villainy but Stanley Tucci alone can’t save this movie.

There are so many other random celebrities beyond Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, and Stanley Tucci. It can be a bit like that Leonardo DiCaprio meme where he’s pointing at the TV. Ke Huy Quan as Dr. Clark Amherst/the voice of P.C., Giancarlo Esposito as Marshall Bradbury, Jason Alexander as Ted Finister, Marin Hinkle as Ms. Sablinsky, Michael Trucco as Ben Abbott, Brian Cox as Popfly, Jenny Slate as Penny Pal, Alan Tudyk as Cosmo, Hank Azaria as Perplexo, Colman Domingo as Wolfe, Rob Gronkowski as Blitz, and Billy Gardell as Garbage Bot. It is a mix of novelty casting with flavor of the moment. All that was missing was Pedro Pascal.

It’s hard to take this seriously with Mr. Peanut being a political leader. If this had been made as more of a comedy then the Mr. Peanut bit would have been tall a lot easier to swallow as would the random casting. In connection with the general silliness, emotional moments are completely unearned. Not even the climax when she finally meets up with her brother again feels deserved. And maybe that’s because of the silliness.

The Electric State can’t decide whether it wants to be an action film with some kind of message or a comedy or a heartfelt action comedy. Characters threaten murder or actually kill people and there are action scenes with silly robots. Or one of the robots is part of a gag based on their initial function in the midst of a tense moment.

This is the story of two characters wondering about a semi post-apocalyptic wasteland and an evil corporation doing evil corporation things. Nothing special there. You see Michelle’s brother has a special McGuffin in his head because he’s smart that allows for the computing power necessary to run Skate’s computer network that everybody is on but also allowed for humans to operate robot bodies which ended the war. Skate’s device called a neurocaster is a cross between the internet and virtual reality. You can go to work and hang out in a reality of your own making at the same time. Without the boy it all falls apart. Skate came up with a Plan B?

This feels like it goes on more than necessary. At two hours and eight minutes you feel most of those two hours and eight minutes. The Electric State is a much shorter story that goes out of its way to display the weirdness of this alternate reality while inserting a few cool scenes that are undermined by the campiness of the robot designs.

By the end of the movie I was kind of indifferent on whether I completed it or not. With 30 minutes left I was interrupted and had to step away for a little while. I had a real tough decision to make on whether or not to restart this. That’s how boring it was. It didn’t even tickle the completist component in me. But I did decide to finish hoping it might tie things together in a great way with 30 minutes left. But it doesn’t.

It’s a beautiful looking world. The special effects often blend seamlessly with the environment in which they are inserted. Most of it is very impressive computer animation. Looking good is only half the battle. You need to hook the audience and this never does that. To much breaks the suspension of disbelief. Plus it never gets below anything superficial.

Producers/directors Anthony and Joe Russo could have gotten into themes of free will with the robots rebelling against their assigned tasks. But they do not. It’s just about the second robot revolution where they actually get to integrate into society. That’s what seems to happen at the end of the film. That and the incorporation is taken down. The thing is the robots decided to start a war and kill people but by the end of the movie they’re framed is justified for slaughtering individuals?

The Electric State goes on too long and doesn’t touch on things it probably should in a movie stocked with random cameos of actors. A missed opportunity.