dir. Anthony and Joe Russo
The graphic novel The Electric State by Simon Stålenhag is highly regarded as a great piece of fiction. Its best elements were ostensibly left behind in this one-dimensional, painfully shallow adaptation. In a dystopian alternative reality where humans and robots waged a devasting war, Millie Bobby Brown plays Michelle, a teenager who embarks on a journey alongside a robot she believes to house the consciousness of her supposedly dead brother. They encounter all sorts of quippy allies, from a drawling Chris Pratt to a host of horrifyingly ugly robots with eerie painted faces. There’s some incomprehensible nonsense about how Michelle’s brother has had his brain integrated with war technology, but it’s so stupid and hard to follow that it doesn’t result in much – all that matters is that he’s special, because that’s the one note the script has bestowed on him. Every single character, from hero to villain, is one-dimensional and possesses only a pale emulation of emotional expression over anything deep or sincere. This would be forgivable if it just applied to the robots, but the humans are somehow even harder to relate to as they’re so dull and predictable. It has to be assumed that the original story had better pacing and nuance to it, but as a film adaptation, The Electric State is no more than a lifeless imitation.
BMDb 