THE ELECTRIC STATE
Starring: Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Ke Huy Quan, Jason Alexander, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Giancarlo Esposito and Stanley Tucci
Directors: Joe and Anthony Russo
BODE
Since helming some of the most successful films of all time under the MCU banner, the Russo Brothers have mostly spent their capital on over-budgeted streaming fodder that you can half-watch while doing other activities. The Electric State is their latest project to serve this purpose. They take the basic premise of Simon Stålenhag’s illustrated novel and make an utterly soulless Amblin homage out of it, complete with hollow observations regarding our reliance on technology, bland Marvel-style humour, and performances that are either doing too much (Chris Pratt) or too little (Millie Bobby Brown). At least the effects are decent, hackery be damned.
ROBERT
Given recent announcements for future projects, The Electric State seems like the Russo Brothers spinning their directorial wheels until they are fully engrossed in Avengers movies again. Overall, this gives off vibes of Wall-E and Ready Player One, mixed with some Terminator: cautionary tales about how human laziness will lead to technology reliance and potential destruction (or, at the very least, aversion to reality). The difference is that those movies are mostly more enjoyable since they are managed with more direction and emotional pathos. When the robots have more heart than the humans, you’ve got problems.
ADRIANO
For a directing duo that can't seem to stick the landing while also saying pretty stupid things about cinema (ok, really just Joe Russo, in fairness), The Electric State is, unsurprisingly, just unwatchable. The whole movie is essentially the Russo Brothers advocating for AI on a thematic level, and to make their point, they deliver a movie with a terrible script that lacks good ideas and cohesion to an otherwise straight-forward story, not to mention flat direction emphasized by horrible editing and a robotic performance from Millie Bobby Brown. These are your Avengers: Doomsday directors. Yeah, good luck with that.
BRYAN
There was a time when a new Russo Brothers outing was exciting, yet post-Endgame, the results have been repeatedly chunky. The Electric State may have even reached new levels of unwatchable in every possible way. If you wanted a guide to Lazy Filmmaking 101, this meets the criteria. Any ounce of emotional heft presented in the illustrated novel is nowhere to be found throughout this $320 million soulless snoozer. Even with a talented cast at the forefront, everything feels off. There was promise here, but maybe it'd be best for the Russos to hang it up.
