I just finished watching Netflix's latest expensive disaster, The Electric State and man oh man what a wild ride this thing was. The Russo brothers took Simon Stalenhag's graphic novel and basically turned it into a 320 million dollar playground for robots that look like they escaped from a theme park, Chris Pratt doing his usual thing and Millie Bobby Brown looking way too clean for someone who's supposed to be a struggling foster kid living in the wastelands. The whole setup is basically this alternate 1990s world where robots got sick of being slaves, started a war with humans and now live in some kind of segregated zone called the Exclusion Zone, meanwhile everyone else is walking around with these giant VR headsets that make them look like they are cosplaying as deep sea divers. The movie throws you right into this world without much explanation, just a quick montage of President Clinton shaking hands with Mr. Peanut, yes that's actually a thing that happens in this movie and it's exactly as weird as it sounds. What really gets me is how they took something that could have been this haunting, melancholy story about technology and humanity and turned it into what feels like a cartoon ish with a budget bigger than most worth watching movies. The visuals are absolutely stunning though, I'll give them that, those giant robots wandering around the desert actually look pretty incredible, especially the construction bots that throw refrigerators at people like they are playing the world's most dangerous game of catch.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7766378/
- Platform: Netflix
Rottentomatoes Rating
The movie delops the story of Michelle, who was basically living with an abusive foster dad played by Jason Alexander, when this robot shows up claiming to be her dead brother Christopher, the robot can only speak in catchphrases from some kids show, so communication is basically playing charades with a tin can but somehow Michelle figures out that her genius brother's consciousness is trapped inside this thing, reminds me to Bumblebee from Transformers tbh. The whole plot about Christopher being this super smart kid who finished Einstein's test in hours felt pretty forced, like they needed a reason for the bad guys to want his brain and just went with "he's really really smart" as their explanation. Stanley Tucci plays the villain Ethan Skate, who is basically every evil tech CEO you have ever seen in movies and he is using Christopher's brain to power all the VR headsets in the world because apparently that's how technology works in this universe. The journey to save Christopher involves teaming up with Chris Pratt's character Keats, who's this smuggler living in the desert with his robot buddy Herman, voiced by Anthony Mackie doing his best to sound like a wise sidekick. The chemistry between Pratt and Brown is decent enough, though it feels like they are both just not really trying, Pratt especially seems like he was channeling Star Lord but without any of the charm that made that character work. Brown tries her best but there is something off about her performance, maybe it's the fact that she looks like she just stepped out of a salon despite supposedly living rough in the wasteland or maybe it's just that the script doesn't give her much to work with besides being angry and determined all the time.
What really bothers me about this movie is how it handles the whole robot rights thing like it wants to be this deep commentary on prejudice and discrimination but then turns around and makes jokes about robots arguing over extension cords. The Mr. Peanut character voiced by Woody Harrelson is supposed to be this dignified leader of the robot resistance but he just comes across as goofy rather than inspiring and the whole treaty subplot feels like it was written by someone who has never actually thought about how politics work. The action sequences are where the movie really shines though, watching these massive robots fight with military drones while smaller bots like the postal robot and the baseball throwing robot join the fight is very entertaining. There is this one scene where all the robots are marching to the final battle and it was very intense because of the danger they were in, even though logically it makes no sense that they wouldn't get attacked during this long journey across the desert. The movie also has this weird thing where it tries to be funny but the humor feels forced, like when Pratt's character says "I'm shocked" and it's apparently some kind of code word or when the robot starts playing "Good Vibrations" and somehow that defeats the enemy robots because they hate Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. I kept waiting for the movie to pick a tone and stick with it but it keeps bouncing between serious family drama, goofy robot comedyand big budget action spectacle without ever really nailing any of those elements.
The climax of the movie involves Michelle having to go into VR to talk to her brother's consciousness, which is living in this recreation of their last Christmas together and it's actually pretty sad when you think about it, the kid has been trapped in his own memories for years while his brain gets used as a computer processor and the only way to free him is to basically kill him, which is way darker than anything else in the movie. The ending tries to be hopeful with this whole message about how people should put down their phones and go outside and make real connections but it feels pretty hollow coming from a movie that spent 320 million dollars on flashy CGI robots. There was also this weird subplot about Chris Pratt's character being in love with his robot companion, which ends up in the most awkward way when the robot reveals there is an even smaller robot inside the bigger robot and I honestly don't know what they were going for with that. The movie definitely feels like it had scenes cut out, there are these weird jumps in logic and character development that make you wonder if there's a director's cut somewhere that actually makes sense. Holly Hunter shows up for literally one scene and then disappears which seems like a waste of a good actress and there are all these other big name actors doing robot voices that feel like they were cast just because they could afford them. The world building is pretty inconsistent too, like sometimes the robots are treated as equals and sometimes they're treated like property and the whole exclusion zone concept never gets properly explained, I know I sound mad or just complaining about everything but its just that the whole movie is beautiful and there was this fantasy aspect that could have been exploited so much to make something great, this movie reminds me of Quantumania.
Despite all my complaints, I actually didn't hate watching this movie, it's the kind of thing that is perfect for putting on while you are doing other stuff or want to kill some time, do you put on movies while doing other things on the computer? side by side windows, I do sometimes which is probably exactly what Netflix wanted?!. The robot designs are very creative and my favorite part, from the giant construction bots to the tiny service robotsand the voice acting is mostly pretty good even if the characters don't make much sense. Giancarlo Esposito shows up as this robot hunter guy who switches sides at the end and he brings his usual sauce to the role even though his character story is pretty predictable. The movie definitely has this Saturday afternoon matinee vibe that makes it easy to watch, even when the plot doesn't make sense and the characters are doing stupid things, the biggest problem is that it tries to be too many things at once, like it wants to be a family adventure movie and a serious sci fi drama and a comedy all at the same time and it doesn't really succeed at any of those goals. The Russo brothers clearly know how to make things look good and move fast but they seem to have forgotten that movies need actual characters and stories that people care about, not just expensive special effects and celebrity cameos. If you go in expecting a big dumb robot movie with pretty visuals and don't think too hard about the plot, you'll probably have a decent time.
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