The Electric State (2025)
Directed by: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo
Premise: Based on the novel by Simon Stålenhag. Set in an alternate history, artificially intelligent robots and human beings went to war in the 1990s. In the aftermath, the surviving robots are confined to a reservation. Meanwhile, a teenager (Millie Bobby Brown) is reunited with her long-lost brother whose consciousness inhabits a robot.
What Works: The Electric State has a familiar premise that is uplifted a bit by an absurd sense of humor. The movie imagines a world in which sentient robots were used as slave labor and then rebelled against humanity. Some of these robots have a silly design or utilize corporate logos. The leader of the robots is Mr. Peanut of the Planters snack company. There is something funny and subversive about this corporate mascot advocating for civil rights. The Electric State is handsomely produced. The special effects look great and the design and movement of the robots convey personality including the robots that don’t speak but communicate through movement and posture.
What Doesn’t: The Electric State is frontloaded with a lot exposition that lays out the backstory of the war between robots and human beings. This backstory is far more interesting than the actual movie. The rest of The Electric State is cliché. This is a worn-out premise that was done better in Blade Runner, I, Robot, The Matrix, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Westworld, and Ex Machina. The familiarity might be surmountable if The Electric State were entertaining and engaging but the film is leaden and frequently boring. The story has several narrative plates to keep spinning. The teenager searches for her brother’s biological body, a corporation keeps the people of the world pacified with virtual reality technology, and the robots struggle to preserve their freedom. The parts don’t fit together very well and there is no sense of dramatic stakes. Stories, especially tales of this scale, need a coherent and concrete goal that the characters are working toward. The characters of The Electric State lack any coherent motives. It’s not really clear where they are going and why and the film is too dull for us to care. There are a few action scenes along the way but they lack excitement or showmanship. A lot of the movie doesn’t make sense. A tech oligarch (Stanley Tucci) makes a deal with a mercenary (Giancarlo Esposito) because the company can’t enter the robot reservation but that rationale is arbitrarily tossed aside. Characters change allegiances for no reason other than plot conventions. The Electric State attempts to make a social statement about the way technology may dehumanize and isolate us. This message comes across both preachy and tagged on; the film isn’t building toward that moment and it’s not saying anything interesting or revelatory.
Disc extras: Available on Netflix.
Bottom Line: The Electric State as an overstuffed bore. There are elements that could be satirical if the movie was made with any insight or wit but The Electric State is a series of belabored cliches and dull characters.
Episode: #1040 (March 23, 2025)