The Electric State review: Netflix spent $320 million on generic slop

Netflix discourages audiences from watching the end credits to anything. It would much rather you very quickly move on to the next thing lest you, heaven forfend, walk away from the screen.

But you may want to sit through the 11-minute scroll of The Electric State so you can fully appreciate all the names that worked on this film, right through to Noel Gallagher’s songwriting credit for Wonderwall, an acoustic version of which plays at the end of the film.

Only then could you begin to, maybe, understand how in the world the streamer spent a reported $US320 million on a movie that was never meant for a big cinema screen.

Actually, that’s a lie. The Electric State was originally packaged for Universal but changed hands to Netflix before filming started.

The film is effects-heavy, which is always expensive, but $US320 million expensive?

You don’t see it on the screen, certainly not in the scenes of chaotic action where weightless robots fight each other, mechanical parts and laser beams flying through the air.

How tedious, unimaginative and boring. Not just the effects and action sequences. The whole film.

You know where a lot of that money was likely spent? On salaries.

The Electric State was directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, who after the enormous success of their run with Marvel, had everyone throwing cash at them.

The Russos brought on Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the screenwriters of their four Marvel movies, and cast their MCU friend Chris Pratt and recruited Alan Silvestri, also Marvel stock, to compose the score.

Then there’s Netflix’s streaming star Millie Bobby Brown, as well as Stanley Tucci, Ke Huy Quan and Giancarlo Esposito in live-action roles. Plus the voice talents of Woody Harrelson, Alan Tudyk, Anthony Mackie (another Marvel alumnus), Jenny Slate and Hank Azaria.

The production even had on its books Terry Notary, the renowned movement coach and motion-capture performer who’s worked on the likes of The Hobbit, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and, you guessed it, Marvel.

Not that Notary’s involvement was obvious because much like all the whizz-bang, razzle-dazzle of The Electric State, there’s nothing distinct about how the robots move in the same way there’s nothing groundbreaking about its visual effects.

So, yes, all those high-profile people got PAID but the audience is left in deficit, still owed a thematically interesting, emotionally resonant and visually sparkling movie.

Adapted from an illustrated novel by Simon Stalenhag, The Electric State is set in an alternate version of our history in which robots were developed for menial, helper roles, until the inevitable uprising.

The year is 1994, and it’s two years after a human versus robot war, which was won thanks to rich dude Ethan Skate (Tucci) and his company which now ubiquitously controls technology.

Surviving robots with sentience have been corralled into no-go zones but many humans now rely on virtual reality headsets and are as disconnected and unmotivated as the people in WALL-E.

Rebellious teenager Michelle (Brown) comes across a rogue robot and together, along with scavenger Keats (Pratt), they embark on a mission to find her thought-to-be-dead genius little brother.

There are bounty hunters (Esposito), errant doctors (Quan) and refugee robots (Harrelson, Slate) and action set-pieces inside an abandoned theme park.

But it all amounts to not much. Certainly nothing memorable. Brown and Pratt give performances we’ve seen before – hers a watered down version of her Stranger Things character and his a lesser iteration of the petulant Star-Lord.

Stalenhag’s dreamy retro-futuristic visuals have been flattened to look like every other dystopian action flick with that grimy, yellow-ish, can’t-quite-make-anything-out filter while the overall tone screams generic. An Amblin-type family adventure this is not, it doesn’t succeed at being a derivative of that.

The Electric State is not the first Stalenhag adaptation and if you’re interested in seeing a more considered, even meditative, work derived from his, check out Tales of the Loop, a 2020 miniseries that captured the essence of the source material. It also features a stunning score from Philip Glass and Paul Leonard-Morgan.

The Electric State is the most expensive movie ever made for streaming, even when adjusted for inflation, and it’s wild to think about the economics of this.

How could Netflix possibly get that value back? How many new subscribers will it have to sign up? How many video games will it spin off (at least one is in the works)? Themed restaurants?

One thing is the film was greenlit at a time when money was still going spare with huge upfront fees for in-demand talent. The collective wisdom is that era is over.

Back then, everyone wanted to work with the Russos, but all their post-Marvel work (Cherry, The Gray Man, Citadel) have failed to be culturally relevant or penetrating. Maybe it’s because they keep making things for streamers.

Next, they’re going to back to the Marvel factory, where, for better or worse, everyone will actually be paying attention.

Or, here’s an idea. They got their start in comedy – Arrested Development (there’s a Barry Zuckerkorn gag in The Electric State), Community and Happy Endings – so wouldn’t it be great if the Russos started to make things again that were actually zippy and fun?

Rating: 2/5

The Electric State is streaming on Netflix from March 14