The Electric State

Honestly, I guess this film is aimed at the 5-10 age group, and I think that makes it fine....ok....not too awful etc etc.

For a background film while you cook, it's ok. Difficult to follow anyhow when you sit and concentrate.

With the amount of well known names in this film, and the fact I love sci-fi, I was truly expecting and hoping for so much better.

People giving this a ten? Really? Have you never watched a film before, or think this is the height of sci-fi?

Acting for me was all good, even MBB whom I'm not a fan of. It's the story that lets it down. Lack of cohesion, lack of direction, absolute lack of compassion for any of the characters. :-(

So wanted to enjoy this. But... Oh, boy, what a dull movie. The actors look bored. The script is one of the worst I have witnessed. It's a hodge podge of other movie's scenes. ET, Aliens, T2 in the first 10 mins alone.

What a waste of talent. Is everyone now just cashing in the Netflix dollar and not caring about entertaining the audience. $320m and there's no soul, nobody to care about, no humour, no story, no jeopardy, nothing.

Predictable. The two stars look lost. The only redeeming feature is the FX which are phenomenally good. But you'd have as much fun flicking through the pictures in the book than you would sitting through 2 hours of this trite.

"The Electric State" had all the ingredients for a great sci-fi adventure-an intriguing premise, a talented cast, and a massive $300+ million budget. Yet, despite these advantages, the film falls flat, failing to deliver anything beyond its initial setup.

The movie starts strong, presenting a mysterious and engaging world that grabs attention. However, as the plot unfolds, it becomes increasingly childish and loses its depth, turning what could have been a thought-provoking sci-fi journey into something simplistic and uninspired. The film seems unsure of its target audience, oscillating between serious themes and a tone that feels more suited for a younger crowd.

With a cast of this caliber, the performances should have been a highlight, but instead, they feel wasted on a script that doesn't give them much to work with.

Especially Millie Bobby Brown feels underwhelming. Her acting lacks the emotional weight needed to carry the story, making it difficult to connect with her character.

Visually, The Electric State is impressive, as expected from a film with such a massive budget. The CGI and world-building are well-crafted, but stunning visuals alone can't compensate for a lackluster narrative. Given the talent and resources behind the project, the final result is frustratingly mediocre.

Ultimately, The Electric State is a missed opportunity. It starts with promise but quickly loses its way, relying on spectacle rather than substance. For a film of this scale, it should have offered much more than a pretty but hollow experience.

Like other user reviews I can say this is no epic or a particularly memorable movie but it's not bad. I have not read the book so cannot speak to it's faithfulness to the original story but the dialogue is funny at times. I actually find chris pratts performance better than in most movies. More self deprecating and with nuanced quirkiness. Its an action/adventure movie so i never really understand why critics hold these romps to the standard of cinema. This is not cinema, this is simply a good action/adventure flick with some funny bits. Its not a dark movie but not overly campy either. You can absolutely see where the budget went. The cgi is flawless and plentiful which i always enjoy.

The Electric State wants to be a requiem in retro-futurist tones, a tale of loss and wanderings, robots with forlorn eyes, and a girl drifting through the ash-heap of civilisation. But though the frame is stunning and the budget considerable, the film slips through the fingers like vapour.

The Russo brothers summon their usual largesse of scale, but seem uninterested in the subtler contours of feeling. The performances are hemmed in by the architecture of the film. Millie Bobby Brown, oddly airbrushed and disconcertingly polished for someone meant to carry the ache of memory, never quite finds the soul of the part. Her face, perhaps shaped more by surgeons than experience, distracts from the emotional weight the role asks of her.

The robot companion, tender in design and nearly mute, is meant to be the beating heart. Instead, it feels like window-dressing for a story that can't commit to intimacy. There are fragments that glint, an abandoned cinema, a voice on a forgotten radio, but they aren't allowed to resonate.

I watched it unfold with admiration for its mechanics and a growing indifference to its meaning. The Electric State has all the signs of a journey, except the feeling of having gone anywhere at all.