Mini Film Review – The Electric State

Yesterday I watched The Electric State; and it was rather…strange! Directed by Anthony Russo, and Joe Russo, and starring Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, and Anthony Mackie, and loosely based on the illustrated novel of the same name by Simon Stålenhag; The Electric State is a science fiction action-adventure film, about an orphaned teen, who teams up with a mysterious robot, who claims to be her deceased brother! The Electric State is a really cool idea, which it doesn’t waste time getting to the point with. It’s basically a more social rights approach to Terminator, with robots breaking free, but wanting freedom, rather than to commit total extermination. Plus it tries to inject a level of whimsy, by having the machines look silly and comedic, rather than just looking like killer machines. But it’s a bit sedate after it’s initial setup, as it comes across more like a comedic science fiction road movie, rather than living up to it’s epic ambitions. It tries to be funny, but frequently isn’t, and the plot is rather slow in getting anywhere. The only driving force it has for the entire first half is Millie Bobby Brown, who provides an emotional connection between the plot and the audience, plus leads the action rather well with her more badass side.

It just feels like it plods along, and even when things get explained in detail, they’re not very clear, like something is being missed, and not on purpose. But The Electric State is a lot like Batman V Superman. The plot plods along, not really doing anything, or going anywhere. But then, it unleashes it’s Wonder Woman moment. Much like how Wonder Woman turned BVS around in the final act into something good, so does The Electric State. OK, it’s not as epic (or even as clear) as Wonder Woman showing up, but the final act finally gets the film going. It picks up the action, and finally unleashes it’s herculean intentions. The film’s final act more than makes up for the rest of the film’s lack of progress and placid storytelling, plus allows for more character work too, so it is worth sticking around for. It’s just a shame, that the rest of the film (apart from Millie Bobby Brown’s acting of course) isn’t as good as the grand finale!