The Electric State can’t hold a charge to save its life
It is hard to describe how utterly joyless and devoid of imaginative ideas The Electric State is. Netflixas latest feature codirected by Joe and Anthony Russo takes many visual cues from Simon StAlenhagas much-lauded 2018 illustrated novel, but the filmas leaden performances and meandering story make it feel like a project borne out by a streamer that sees its subscribers as easily impressed dolts who hunger for slop.A
While you can kind of see where some of the money went, itas exceedingly hard to understand why Netflix reportedly spent upward of $300 million to produce what often reads like an idealized, feature-length version of the AI-generated amoviesa littering social media. With a budget that large and a cast so stacked, you would think that The Electric State might, at the very least, be able to deliver a handful of inspired set pieces and characters capable of leaving an impression. But all this clunker of a movie really has to offer is nostalgic vibes and groan-inducing product placement.
Set in an alternate history where Walt Disneyas invention of simple automatons eventually leads to a devastating war, The Electric State centers Michelle (Millie Bobby …