Guys, it's time to get nuts because Mr. Peanut is in the house! Or on TV screens in the house, playing on the lowest volume in the background while people are tidying up their homes. Kids, that is why you spend a gargantuan amount of money to make The Electric State, a film adaptation of Simon Stålenhag's novel of the same name. Do not ask if it makes sense.
Directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, this sci-fi adventure travels through American wastelands in the 1990s with an engine powered by alternate history. We meet teenager Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown) who has lived through rapid technological advancements, a robot uprising and the fallout of it, which led to humans, shepherded by tech billionaire Ethan Skate (Stanley Tucci), segregating rebellious robots to what is now called Exclusion Zone. But when Michelle meets a robot named Cosmo (Alan Tudyk) that was programmed by her missing/presumed dead brother Christopher (Woody Norman), she sets out to track him down, believing that he's actually alive. On the way to Exclusion Zone, she teams up with pompous smuggler Keats (Chris Pratt) and his robot pal Herman (Anthony Mackie) before adventure ensues.
When you see a lot of movies in any single year and you inevitably see several that aren't so good, you're at the very least often repeating that they didn't cash in on the promise set by the first act or half, what have you. Slightly less usual is an instance where you get a slow start but a fine payoff. The Electric State's problem in short is that you can sense the trouble right from the first few scenes and it continues to hum that very tone with no shakeup in its arrangement.
We begin with a dreadful scene between Michelle and Christopher, which is woefully performed by both Brown and Norman, although they're not helped by the fact that the dialogue provided by screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely has zero charm, or by the fact that the Russos' visualisation and staging for their sibling relationship doesn't create any sparks due to the directors' bland style. This is supposedly meant to be the emotional centre of the entire story, seeing how there are awkwardly placed flashbacks (editing by Jeffrey Ford) from time to time that explore how Michelle is, again, supposedly connected with Christopher and how she's motivated to risk her life for a little bit of closure. Unfortunately, these characters are so incredibly vague and out of reach that none of the urgency translates on the screen.
Brown's performance gets a bit better once the show gets on the road and you get more into world-building, but it's not exactly captivating stuff at any point. Pratt, despite his career trajectory being filled with unchallenging roles in mindless four-quadrant movies, at least makes the occasional acting Choice with a capital C and knows how to play for the camera, though it doesn't add up to much in the end. Tucci comes in and phones it in for the paycheck with his one-dimensional character, whilst the film also wastes Ke Huy Quan (as Dr. Amherst and P.C.) in a thankless, exposition-ridden role that the actor gracefully tries to make work as well as he can. Other notable actors pop in and out but there's not a single one that makes a significant impression.
Of course, movies are just massive harmonies so the emotional detachment tracks when you begin to realise that this whole enterprise is suffering from a severe lack of edge. The source material's alternate history angle offers the filmmakers room to explore bigger themes, but aside from brief, varying mentions of segregation (which has questionably handled parallels to real-life racism, slavery and civil rights movements) or privacy concerns with evil corporations (less questionably handled) in the lore dump at the beginning, seemingly everything has been watered down to absolutely nothing. "Shucks, guys, isn't discrimination bad?" and "Shucks, guys, aren't evil billionaires just the worst?" are the worst kind of vague statements that you can make with this framework right now and you can also sense that the Russos and co. have no perspective on those things. It's all a dull and toothless waste of time and resources.
Speaking of harmonies, some of the craft also follows the directors and writers' lead in that there's nothing that grabs you. Composer Alan Silvestri's score is markedly a tired dud with its uninspired string instrumentation and manipulative piano notes, and its interplay with uninspired needle drops and diegetic music (supervised by Manish Raval and Tom Wolfe) doesn't spur much excitement.
What is not a good sign for any project but what is commendable on its own is the fine work provided by the VFX (supervised by Matthew Butler, produced by David Feinsilber) and SFX teams—since you'd hope that a portion of the massive budget actually went to practical effects and animatronics—which is the only thing fuelling The Electric State's engine. All the designs, movements, lighting and set extensions (Dennis Gassner and Richard L. Johnson's production design holds its own, too) are excellently constructed, even in the otherwise humdrum final action showdown where scale plays a key part. But the real lesson here is that CGI and FX artists shouldn't carry everyone else on their backs, even in a sci-fi blockbuster.
While the world-building is oftentimes great and you don't mind looking at these images, the general, aimless nonsense does make it so that you're not immersed in the world that's being built and you also want to watch the movie on mute. That is because regardless of some people adding a comedy tag next to the aforementioned genres, Markus and McFeely's "comedic" banter, and the way Brown, Pratt and the voice actors play it, is quite excruciating to witness.
It's played like it's supposed to be filled with clever quips and piercing yet loving insults, but the result is more of an annoyance than anything else. The jokes are just cheap remarks, the "humour" is just gibberish, and therefore you never understand why Michelle, Keats and the robots continue to be in each other's presence. It also underlines the feeling that whether we're dealing with humans or robots, this endeavour has long stretches where everything feels completely soulless, which is funny considering how the ending tries to go for sentimentality and earnestness, failing to do so.
So what do we get when it's all said and done? The storytelling here has the forward momentum of a severely depressed, legless robot dog with conservative beliefs. The acting has the sincerity of a sociopath holding a grudge. The filmmaking has the consistency of weather during a hurricane season. Sure, it looks nice sometimes and it's less than two hours without end credits. But the film most likely has the impact of a newborn baby punching you, both emotionally and culturally. It's almost a blackout.
Smileys: VFX, SFX
Frowneys: Story, humour, structure, characterisation, score
Those big robots can certainly mech a big mess.
1.5/5
Where to watch:
This article may contain affiliate links, which means that we may earn a commission if you make a purchase through these links. Thank you for the support!
