The Electric State, an upcoming sci-fi adventure, will stream on Netflix this Friday, March 14. Rated PG-13, the movie is directed by the Russo brothers with screenplay by their fellow Avengers mates, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. The Electric State stars Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things, Enola Holmes, Damsel), who plays Michelle, an orphan teen, while Chris Pratt (Guardians & Jurassic World trilogies) plays the smuggler Keats. In addition, fellow Marvel actor Anthony Mackie (Captain America: Brave New World) plays Keats’s wisecracking robot, Herman.
The Electric State Will Hit Netflix March 14
The movie is an adaptation of the illustrated science fiction novel by Simon Stålenhag. The story is set in a post-apocalyptic Southwest America in 1997, where Michelle and her robot, Skip, journey through the technologically decimated United States in search of Michelle’s lost brother. Much of the filming took place in Atlanta, Georgia, while additional scenes were shot in Lake Acworth, Georgia, and Palmdale, California. Per IMDB, the synopsis reads, “An orphaned teen hits the road with a mysterious robot to find her long-lost brother, teaming up with a smuggler and his wisecracking sidekick.”
Additionally, the film stars Jason Alexander, Giancarlo Esposito, Ke Huy Quan, Stanley Tucci, and Woody Norman. Jenny Slate, Woody Harrelson, Alan Tudyk, and Brian Cox do voiceovers for robots in The Electric State. Quan takes on the supporting role as Dr. Amherst, who is a key figure in helping Michelle find her brother. The film does not come as a surprise since the Russo brothers had teased the project for some time. The movie is rated PG-13 and includes violence, some thematic material, and language.
The film’s official runtime is two hours and eight minutes, shorter than Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, which was two hours and 28 minutes long. The movie depicts a catastrophic war between humans and robots, leaving the entire planet divided and devastated. With robots trapped in a remote wasteland, there is an uneasy peace, but it looks like it won’t last long. “I’m blown away by the movie,” Stålenhag said to Netflix. He added, “It was an amazing experience watching things that I have drawn come to life this way. What resonated most with me was the emotional core of the movie, which is the need for family.
Even though the movie has changed genre from the book a bit, that main core is still the same and has been expanded on beautifully.” Stålenhag stayed in touch with the Russos, Markus, and McFeely throughout the making of the film. One thing that stood out to Stålenhag was the creative freedom in making the movie. “They asked me questions about the timeline and backstory, but it’s their work,” Stålenhag said. Despite Stålenhag’s enthusiasm for the movie, it doesn’t seem to resonate with critics so far. The film has been given an abysmal 22% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 32 reviews.
Critic Reviews on The Electric State
A top critic via IGN movies, A.A. Dowd writes, “It’s a synthetic crowdpleaser that would look a little less odious were it not flattening the spooky grandeur of its source material, the striking illustrated novel of the same name.” David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter writes, “It’s a synthetic crowdpleaser that would look a little less odious were it not flattening the spooky grandeur of its source material, the striking illustrated novel of the same name.” Surely, numbers will change in the coming days as the movie comes out this Friday, but the numbers as they currently stand do not look promising.
The Russo brothers are notorious for their work with Marvel, directing box office heavyweights Avengers: Infinity War & Avengers: Endgame. The Electric State, so far, seems to be doomed to its poor reviews. Another top critic, David Ehrlich of Indiewire, criticizes the lack of humor when he writes, “Truth be told, there isn’t a single laugh — or even a knowing smile — to be found in this relentlessly stale ordeal, which does for sci-fi adventure comedies what The Gray Man did for action thrillers: absolutely nothing.”
Along with the novel, Steven Spielberg was a source of inspiration for the film, taking bits and pieces of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, and Ready Player One. The teaser of the movie was released back in October, and the Russos had been working on the project since 2017, the year before Infinity War was released in theatres. Last month, the film premiered at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood in Los Angeles, California.
The best way to describe the movie is that it’s a dystopian sci-fi film taking place in an alternate 1990s in the United States. Pratt and Mackie join Chris Evans, Tom Holland, Michael Douglas, and Sam Rockwell as Marvel actors to work with the Russo brothers on a non-Marvel film. Michelle Yeoh was originally cast in the film but eventually dropped out because of scheduling conflicts, leading to Ke Huy Quan joining the film. It remains to be seen how the film performs with audiences once it is released this Friday. The film is loosely based on the novel, so it’s safe to assume that the movie won’t follow the novel entirely by the book.
Final Thoughts
The Electric State will debut on Neflix this Friday, March 14, but the film’s capability is troubling, considering its poor 22% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. While the movie boasts a promising cast with stars like Brown, Mackie, and Pratt, early reviews indicate that the film hasn’t lived up to capturing the essence of the novel it’s based on. Sure, fans shouldn’t go by critics alone, but that doesn’t make the poor numbers any less concerning. Cherry and The Grey Man received some underwhelming numbers, and early reviews indicate that this film is doomed to the same fate.
