Novel-to-film adaptations of popular young adult stories were the cinematic rage of the 2010s. And while many didn’t always achieve critical acclaim upon release; the The Hunger Games or the Divergent series became box office juggernauts, satiating a desire for fans of the novels to see their favourite worlds on the big screen.
Which brings us to The Electric State, Netflix’s latest big-budget blockbuster, adapted from a popular 2018 novel by Simon Stålenhag with two movie star leads Millie Bobby Brownand Chris Prattdirected by Anthony and Joe Russo. All those elements seem like a recipe for box office success. In 2020 when the property was with Universal Pictures, it almost became a reality. In fact, if The Electric State went through a time machine to be released in cinemas back in the 2010s, despite its flaws, it would have made some decent coin.
Avengers: Endgame scribes Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely steer away from a direct adaptation of Stålenhag’s story. The foundational setting of a retro-futuristic alternate 1990s, in which a failed technological uprising leads to the exile of all robots remains, serving as the jumping off point for Michelle’s (Brown) story.
Many years after the death of her brother and parents in a car accident and navigating her way through foster care homes and schools, Michelle is confronted by a cartoonish-robot claiming to be controlled by Christopher – her allegedly dead brother. Reluctant, yet convinced, Michelle sets off on a venture through the American West, aided by former soldier who fought in the uprising, now turned smuggler, Keats (Pratt) to find out whether her brother is, in fact, alive.
On the glossy, CGI surface of The Electric State plays as a pure popcorn flick. The whopping $320 million budget is truly all out on the screen with incredible special effects bringing to life what would seem on paper to be an un-adaptable story, at least in a visual sense. The unique designs of each robot (of which some scenes contain hundreds of them on the screen at once), and the way they interact with the characters and the world is truly impressive. The action scenes that involve the heavy use of CGI are exciting and immersive because of the high quality of work that has been done by the artists.
For the Russo’s, playing around in a digitally created sandbox this big isn’t a “first rodeo”. None of the action or set pieces here are on the scale of the moments they pulled off in something like Avengers: Endgame, but their fingerprints are all over The Electric State’s confident direction.
Having two genuine pop-culture stars in Brown and Pratt leading this film is just the tip of the iceberg, as they are joined by Ke Huy Quan, Jason Alexander, Giancarlo Esposito, Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox, Colman Domingo, Jenny Slate, Alan Tudyk, and Hank Azaria. The cast is massive, and potentially where a lot of that $320 million budget. Most of this stacked group of performers come and go in secondary roles, varying between live action and voice over work for the robots making The Electric State Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt’s movie.
The two actors’ bring that “movie star” sheen overwrites the fictional Michelle and Keats, making the film feel to viewers as if they’re watching Brown and Pratt entertainingly interact with robots. The movie leans on quippy one liners and hero shots to fulfill movie star tropes. Their energy and chemistry on screen is fine, but not great. And that’s not completely their fault.
Markus and McFeely’s screenplay never takes an emotional dive below the surface making it difficult to connect to Michelle’s plight. It’s stated repeatedly how much Michelle loves her brother but aside from a handful of generic feeling flashbacks, the audience won’t be moved by the drama. The script also fails to make things like the fallout of the robot uprising, or the barely explored relationship between the head-butting tech-geniuses, played by Esposito and Tucci, seem important enough to be featured with in this story.
It’s obvious that there is an attempt to show how grand the world is, and how many interesting stories it can offer for exploration. Unfortunately, jamming all of it into a two-hour movie not only makes the extraneous narratives feel shoehorned in, but also draws focus away from Michelle’s central arc.
The Electric State is an impressive technical and visual feat, with the Russo bothers’ direction of big-budget, blockbuster set pieces and phenomenal CGI providing most of the entertainment. However, the lack of depth within the story affects how engaged audiences will be and impacts detrimentally on both the performances and the characters.
The Electric State is streaming on Netflix March 14.
