Based on the book by Simon Stalenhag, The Electric State (2025) is directed by Anthony & Joe Russo and features a script from Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. It stars Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Woody Norman, Stanley Tucci, Giancarlo Esposito, Woody Harrelson, Ke Huy Quan, Colman Doningo, Holly Hunter, Alan Tudyk, Camrus Johnson, Kurt Loder, Roshni Edwards, Jason Alexander, Marin Hinkle, Anthony Mackie, Rahul Kohli, Hank Azaria, Jenny Slate, Jordan Black, and Brain Cox. The film is set in a reimagined version of 1997 after humans find themselves victorious in a war against sentient robots. When Michelle (Brown), an orphaned teenager, discovers that the consciousness of her long-lost little brother, Christopher (Norman), has been transferred into a mysterious smiling robot, the two set out on a cross-country journey to find out what happened to Chris’s human body. After reluctantly teaming up with former soldier turned robot freedom fighter, Keats (Pratt), the group finds themselves pursued by AI soldiers controlled by tech billionaire Ethan Skate (Tucci) and his right-hand man, Colonel Bradbury (Esposito). When they eventually cross paths with a group of free robots led by a mechanical Mr. Peanut (Harrelson), the group is thrust not just into a fight for the truth but also for the freedom of an entire class of living beings.

 Continuously forced into leading roles after her breakout in Stranger Things (2016-2025), Millie Bobbie Brown gives an often soulless performance that is only made worse by the script’s consistently awful and, at best, on-the-nose dialogue. There’s no attempt from either Brown or the script to elevate this character above the typical, even-keeled, wide-eyed action hero who does nothing more than dodge explosions in front of a green screen for ¾ of the runtime. She’s not so bad that she’s impossible to follow, but I also can’t point to a single character trait that sets her apart. Netflix sure loves Brown as an actress, I just don’t understand why. 

As for Pratt, his typical nice-guy charisma fits the material well, but we’ve seen him play this exact kind of character countless times before. Even though his energy is pure, the material he’s given just plain stinks. Whether it’s the character’s journey through one of storytelling’s most unoriginal action hero arcs or the fact that the script can’t even effectively communicate his motivations, he’s lazily written in almost every meaningful way. Even his friendship with Herman, a robot voiced by Anthony Mackie, is forgettably surface-level and unoriginal despite providing the film with a slight cute factor. 

It’s clear that despite all of the big names in the supporting cast, they’re mostly just here to get a paycheck. With a reported budget of at least 275 million dollars, I suspect a lot of that money went to egregiously overpaying these actors for what are, at best, bit roles and, at worst, confusing, unnecessarily glorified cameos. Here’s a crazy thought: Maybe they should’ve instead spent that money on fleshing out, at the very least, a passable script. There’s really not a good excuse for such poor story quality when the budget is this absurd.

At least the heavy CGI, although somewhat uninspired, looks authentic enough to immerse the viewer visually. Although shamelessly commercial, there’s something undeniably fun about seeing the living versions of various brand mascots that include a Woody Harrelson-voiced, Abraham Lincoln-inspired version of the Planters peanut guy. Unfortunately, due to what I assume were expensive rights issues, he’s the only genuinely recognizable robot/mascot. This should’ve been one of the film’s more significant joys, but instead feels like a huge missed opportunity and an annoying tease. Mr. Peanut, although fun, is also characterized in the most obvious/safe way imaginable. He looks like honest Abe and acts like him too. It’s a morally admirable character, but what defines him as Mr. Peanut specifically? For God’s sake, the script doesn’t even lean into the obvious (yet admittedly juvenile) joke that he is literally the nut guy. The script is already pretty immature, so why not just lean into it wholly? 

Overall, although the film is well-made in terms of visuals, it fails in almost every other aspect of storytelling/filmmaking. It implements some of the genre’s most gratingly overused tropes but also executes them in the most lazy and ineffective ways possible. Even the elements that aren’t a complete failure feel surface-level at best and provide nothing more than a momentary, entirely emotional dopamine rush. If you have no intention of using your brain or are going to stare at your phone for half of the movie, it should kill two hours pretty quickly. That being said, if your movie costs upwards of 275 million dollars with no planned theatrical run and its most favorable description is that it “kills two hours for only the most brain-dead viewers,” I’d consider that a complete disaster. Netflix’s model has worked in their favor before, but this movie makes them look incompetent. It’s so amateurish that I wouldn’t be surprised if Marvel starts looking at new directors for their upcoming Avengers films. At the very least, the film features some decent CGI eye candy. It’s still pretty bad, I just don’t hate it quite as much as most critics. It essentially plays as a much crappier version of The Creator (2023). Go watch that movie instead. C-