In the period between 2018 and 2019, the Russo brothers (Joe and Anthony Russo) had the whole world in their hands. They had just released two of the most successful movies ever made back to back – a feat that not even James Cameron had accomplished. It wouldn’t be hyperbolic to say that they bookended one of the most successful cinematic franchises ever made, seeing how the MCU still struggles to recapture that unique Russo magic. Jump back to the present, and the Russo brothers are still riding the wave of their Avengers success – sort of. After Cherry didn’t meet expectations, and The Gray Man failed to impress, all eyes were on The Electric State, The Russos’ sci-fi bet. Powered by Netflix and with two solid leads in Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt, things were looking good for this unique sci-fi flick. Until they weren’t.
Released on Netflix on March 14th, The Electric State quickly became one of the platform’s top titles, which was both a blessing and a curse. Sure, more people were seeing the film, but that also meant that more fans noticed the cracks on The Electric State’s seemingly top-notch front.
How could The Electric State backfire? It all comes down to a failure to interpret the source material. The fact that the movie was seen as a “Marvel lite” project also didn’t help, as much as Netflix needed those incredible MCU numbers to recoup the film’s $320 million budget.
A Case of Misdirection
One of the main reasons why The Electric State fails to impress on the same scale as Endgame did has to do with the Russos’ handling of their source material. Anyone who’s read the original novel by Simon Stålenhag sees the story as this deeply lonesome reflection on the impact of technological advancement, and the human cost it carries with it.
Compared to the novel, the film the Russo brothers directed feels more like a cartoon vaguely inspired by the book. Gone is the nuance and complex themes of the novel in favor of a more streamlined narrative that fails to capture the moral conundrums of Stålenhag’s story. It’s as if the Russos can’t switch back from their Marvel mode.
The worst part of this whole affair is how mishandled the cast feels. You have talents like Chris Pratt, Jason Alexander, Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson, and even Giancarlo Esposito… And you give them nothing to work with. It might be one of the most wasted casts in recent memory: all that acting potential, only to appear in a film that has all the thrills and depths of a backyard kiddie pool.
Is The Electric State A Guilty Pleasure?
I love bad movies. I’ve been to screenings of The Room and even held some Neil Breen movie marathons. Terrible films have a certain appeal that’s tough to shake, but only when you can feel the filmmaker did everything in their power to come up with an entertaining product. The Electric State feels as if the Russos didn’t even try.
The result is a movie that feels, for lack of a better word, soulless. There’s no rhyme or reason behind the plot, and the “intense” action sequences feel as if they’re there just to check some boxes and fulfill a runtime target. In all honesty, there’s no reason to watch The Electric State – unless you want to see a handy checklist of what the Russo brothers should not do in Avengers: Doomsday.
RELATED: The Epic Netflix Show That Stole Game of Thrones’ Crown As The Best Medieval Drama
