The Electric State had an estimated budget of $320 million. An astronomical sum that makes it one of the most expensive productions in history, streaming platforms and theaters combined. That's $4 million more than Avengers: Infinity War, $20 million more than Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, $83 million more than Avatar, and $95 million more than The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. You can bash The Gray Man, Red Notice, or Green Lantern all you want, but they "only" cost 200 million.
For a while now, the SVoD service has accustomed us to offering more and more catalog blockbusters, where the need to respect specifications has supplanted creativity. This is how we are treated, every year, to a legion of content in the "watchable then forgettable" category. The Electric State being the most expensive original production for Netflix, one could hope to break out of this vicious circle and have a film as ambitious as its means. It's nice to dream.
In an alternate reality, the 90s were the scene of a war between robot mascots and humans. A peace treaty led to the former being confined in an impenetrable exclusion zone. Some time later, the world is under the influence of Sentre, a company led by Ethan Skate, a visionary genius who has found a way to connect human consciousness to drones. Orphaned following the death of her parents, Michelle sees a small robot arrive, hiding her brother's consciousness. Together, they will set out to find the latter's body and find unlikely allies along the way.
An ambitious budget for an ambitious film? The first American reviews, generally rather positive, seemed to have decided on the subject with 10% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes (19% at present). So we put on our boxing gloves and started watching with the idea that we were going to have to face an enemy of the same caliber as The Gardener or In The Lost Lands – as you can see, it's your servant who always finds himself on the front line, even though it wasn't his war. Bring back the bad taste, we're going to waltz to the sound of The Clash at Demonhead.
The beautiful mechanics of The Electric State
Is The Electric State the worst film offered by Netflix in 2025? No, and for two reasons. The first is that the year is still long and we know that the streaming service can still surprise us in this regard. Which also works the other way, since Adolescence is undoubtedly one of the best series on the platform. The second is that it would be dishonest not to see the money invested on screen.
Visually, this adaptation of Simon Stålenhag's novel is impressive, at least in its most robotic part. Animatronics and digital effects blend in with the actors, so that we can really believe in their interactions. The film mixes both retro and modern charm with just the right amount of rust and bone to give it a unique atmosphere. It's sometimes astonishing and you think that the show would have deserved a big screen at times, just to pay tribute to the work of the team in charge of the special effects.
Although the decorum is particularly poor, the film being divided into 3-4 main sets, a lot of care has been taken with the machines with original and varied androids. Especially since their status, for the vast majority, as mascots, gives them this little unique side, far from the science fiction productions which tend to build theirs on a production line. This allows them to obtain this little extra personality to which we become attached. And then we are not going to lie, whether these are robots in the image of capitalism who revolt for their freedom, the irony is pleasant.
Nothing in the bodywork
Why did the American comrades put down the Russo feature film so much? Perhaps because with $320 million in their pockets, the brothers soon to be at the helm of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars have deliberately killed the entertainment industry. The Electric State is a beautiful shell, nevertheless completely empty once inside. The screenplay, written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the Russo henchmen, is yet another example of autopilot where characters without personalities will go from point A to point B by ticking off all the obligatory passages. Well-known actors on screen and in voice acting – Chris Pratt, Stanley Tucci, Giancarlo Esposito (who must have earned his intermittent show business hours by appearing in one out of three productions), Anthony Mackie, Alan Tudyk, Ke Huy Quan and even Woody Harrelson – for roles that have no depth. As for Millie Bobby Brown, she has embraced the status of a machine programmed by Netflix, and each of her characters will now be called "interchangeable heroine number 123."
No tension, no unpredictable twists, no sense of spectacle (a shame), and all the narrative ideas thrown here and there fall flat without anyone wanting to pick them up. The important thing is to move forward, not to think. The technical performance falters in the face of the emptiness of the rest, and we're left there, contemplating nothingness dressed to the nines.
This isn't the first production to highlight this kind of failing. However, it crystallizes everything that can be criticized about a certain modern vision of the blockbuster. One that will be content to nicely package a story without aspiration or inspiration, preferring to boast about its budget and its casting, when it is precisely this budget and this casting that allowed it to achieve much better. The film is no more ambitious, no more creative than a multitude of its predecessors. It is a beautiful object without any soul, and its probable success on the platform risks proving it right. A production that openly shouts that it is not cinema. The Electric State could have been great, and it deliberately settles – and this is what hurts the most – for being just another stock film designed to please the Coliseum crowd. “Haven’t you had enough fun?.”
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