Netflix actually puts his cinema competition this year in the shade, with a single work: The Electric State is the most expensive film of the streaming service, shines with numerous stars and comes from directors who have also helped billions of income. It is based on a celebrated graphic novel template. He is by far the largest sci-fi spectacle of the year. But he Disappointed.
The Electric State is bored with one -dimensional figures and artificial emotions that neither Millie Bobby Brown nor Chris Pratt can save. Every fan of the genre has seen the story 100 times. And even some pictures that should all benefit from the multi -million dollar budget are irrelevant average. Just one aspect The megalomaniac blockbuster really likes.
That’s what it’s about in The Electric State
The Electric State plays in a retrofuturistic version of the United States in 1994. After a war between humans and their work robots, the machines are braided into a desert -like ghetto, the so -called exclusion zone.
Take a look at the trailer for The Electric State:
The Electric State – Final Trailer (German) HD
The teenager Michelle (Brown), who lost her whole family during the war, gets a visit from a robot one evening (Original voice: Alan Tudyk). As it turns out, the machine is dominated by the spirit of her dead brother Christopher (Woody Norman), who urges her to find and free his body. And she has to go to the exclusion zone.
With the help of the removed ex-soldier Keat (Pratt), which sells finds from the ghetto with its robot buddy Herm (Anthony Mackie), she can start your journey. But her on her heels are already tech billionaire ethan skate (Stanley Tucci) and be Ice -cold handlong Bradbury (Giancarlo Esposito). Because Christopher plays an important role in her plans.
The biggest problem in The Electric State is the missing heart
The history of the Netflix film The Electric State began in 2017 when the directors Joe and Anthony Russo bought the rights to an adaptation of Simon Stålenhag’s graphic novel. The template inspires with moving pictures of gigantic robot wrecks against the background of the vastness of America.
Over the years, the Russos gave the promise of the template with an impressive cast and Netflix million budget. The project could not fail on paper. But the end product is anything but a success.
The Electric State is missing before all other things A beating, human heart: multi -layered figures and emotions, credible actions, surprising turns. Michelle and Keats are as three -dimensional as cardboard displays. How strongly did Michelle suffer from her family? Why does it reject new -fashioned technology so vehemently? Is ex-sold Keats traumatized by the war? Why does it help, of all places, who keeps proud speeches on his moral nihilism, the young girl so willingly? We do not find out.
And with a free ticket of over 320 million, one has to assume that such questions did not care about the Russo brothers: the background stories of the characters only serve to do so, to quickly reach the next fork of a trivial story And are not an expression of emotional wealth. The entire dramaturgical course of the film has something mechanical itself.
That would be less bad if on that Food strips of this soulless Plot motorway Occasionally, some interesting sight would flash. But impressive, new ideas, entertaining dialogues or effective joke are also missing over long distances. Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown strive for vitality, but such ambitions simply run into a script from the curiosity of a Thermomix.
Really interesting figure details give the Russos and their authors Christopher Markus and Stephen Mcfeely only figures like Stanley Tuccis Steve Jobs-Hommage, who wants to clean themselves in a video simulation of the memories of an alcoholic mother. But such ideas do not lead anywhere: Tuccis Ethan Skate remains a completely one -sided, archetypal adversary in the end.
The robots are the only great aspect of The Electric State
However, it would be wrong to put the Electric State with Russo bombast like The Gray Man or blockbuster mass goods like Red One on one level. First, The Electric State looks really great in some places: The robot characters are very detailed and fit seamlessly into the real film recordings. There is even the Netflix look, which robs many scenes their visual depth and shines through especially in many living room and office scenes. The 320 Netflix millions were therefore not fully wasted.
Incidentally, the film owes the whole to its robot figures laboriously saved balance of charm and humor. Who can hear the original version, because the southern aura of Mr. Peanut or the quick wit of Herm come out particularly well due to the voices of Woody Harrelson and Anthony Mackie.
The sci-fi blockbuster remains a letdown
But such oases of wit and mood are too rare to establish a connection between the viewers and characters, not to mention interest in the film. The Electric State is one soulless, ultrateurer sci-fi cleaning And one of the biggest missed opportunities in the film year, despite everything, is the sobering conclusion.
Incidentally, it is no wonder that many critics: inside, for example on Metacritic, beat the film with such anger and belief. The Russo brothers, who joyfully looked towards the first Ai-generated film years ago, have equipped their robot film with a machine heart and are now demanding film fans the phlegmatic acceptance of good consumers.
How can you not compare yourself with the addicts from the film that are slowly absorbing in simulations that are as edgeless as The Electric State itself?
The Electric State has been available at Netflix since March 14, 2025. He has a term of 128 minutes.