Posted by Based on a Swedish graphic novel of the same name is The Electric State, the latest big blockbuster flick from director siblings Anthony and Joe Russo. When I say big budget, I mean an eye watering $320 million on a colourful and crowd pleasing sci-fi adventure with a star studded cast. Seemingly everything and the kitchen sink has been thrown at this Netflix venture and is it worth it? In short, no.
It is set in an alternative version of the 90s, where robots were once commonplace and did all the jobs we didn’t want to do. They then gained sentience, grew tired of their alloted roles and a Terminator style man v machine war erupted. Stanley Tucci’s evil genius and CEO of Sentre Ethan Skate (Elon Musk meets Steve Jobs) creates a Ready Player One style VR Headset, which is used to wield an army of drones and defeat the robots. Who are then summarily imprisoned in the electric state.
This neatly leads us to Millie Bobby Brown‘s Michelle Green, an orphan who after a chance meeting is on a quest to find her brother, stop Sentre, free the machines from their reservation and generally save the world. This sarkier version of Eleven, who is ever so slightly less annoying than Enola Holmes, meets a ragtag bunch of clichés including a perky post office bot Penny Pal (Jenny Slate) leader Mr Peanuts (Woody Harelson), Popfly the elder statesmen baseball bot (Brian Cox) amongst others. Not forgetting Keats, which sees Chris Pratt phone it in and play yet another version of Starlord.
The end result is a gorgeous looking, mildly entertaining adventure with a bland but uplifting story which plays out like a paint by numbers marvel film. It may have great VFX but its beauty is only skin deep and like the last post marvel film they directed, The Gray Man, this is best left alone.
5/10.
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