THE Electric State, now streaming on Netflix, comes with all the bells and whistles you would expect from such a retro-futuristic adventure from the directors of Avengers: Endgame.
But this $320million sci-fi blockbuster, for all its special effects and big name stars, is tedious from beginning to end. Coming off like a mixture of Transformers, Pixels, and Rocket Boy as seen through a blurry Spielbergian lens, it proves soulless and bereft of the slightest glimmer of sparkle, even if it does kill 128-minutes without much fuss.
Directors Anthony and Joe Russo’s film lacks any kind of emotional connect with its audience, and I spent most of my time matching scenes to movies in which I had previously seen the exact same sequences before, only done better. Not really what you expect for a big budget romp, which is said to be one of the most expensive ever made.
Set in a sci-fi version of the 1990s, The Electric State stars Millie Bobby Brown of Stranger Things fame as Michelle, an orphaned teenager navigating life in a society where sentient robots resembling cartoons and mascots, who once served peacefully among humans, now live in exile following a failed uprising.
Everything Michelle thinks she knows about the world is upended one night when she’s visited by Cosmo, a sweet, mysterious robot who appears to be controlled by Christopher (Woody Norman) – Michelle’s genius younger brother whom she thought was dead.
Determined to find the beloved sibling she thought she had lost, Michelle sets out across the American southwest with Cosmo, and soon finds herself reluctantly joining forces with Keats (Chris Pratt).
The Guardians of the Galaxy star plays a low-rent smuggler, teamed up with his wisecracking robot sidekick Herman (voiced by Anthony Mackie).
As they venture into the Exclusion Zone, a walled-off corner in the desert where robots now exist on their own, Keats and Michelle find a strange, coluorful group of new animatronic allies – and begin to learn that the forces behind Christopher’s disappearance are more sinister than they ever expected.
In fairness, my 12-year-old son enjoyed every last minute, so I’m not the target audience, but this cynical old hack could not muster the same enthusiasm. The Electric State is a pure time-worn facsimile that lacks originality, humour, or even a trace of gusto.
(2/5)
