Hello friends! On Saturday, Luke and I sat down to watch a movie, doing that thing where you're scrolling for so long that it's actually really hard to pick something you wanna watch but we eventually settled on The Electric State on Netflix. Now, I had heard about this movie from seeing all the Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown interviews surfacing BUT I wasn't actually sure what the movie was about. This blog post is my review of the film "The Electric State". DISCLAIMER: THIS BLOG POST CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE FILM THE ELECTRIC STATE. PLEASE READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
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The Electric State (Film Review)
According to IMDB, the synopsis for the film The Electric State (2025) is as follows: "An orphaned teen hits the road with a mysterious robot to find her long-lost brother, teaming up with a smuggler and his wisecracking sidekick." The current IMDB rating for this film is 6.0/10, Rotten Tomatoes gave it 15%, and Metacritic gave it 29%. I don't like looking at reviews of a movie before I watch them because I don't want any biases going into a film viewing BUT I don't think this movie deserves a score as low as 15%.
Firstly, I want to say that the casting for this film was fantastic. I thought that Millie Bobby Brown (Michelle) and Chris Pratt (Keats) had excellent chemistry as a little sister-big-brother duo, and the banter was super funny. Also, there are other notable names in this film, such as Anthony Mackie (Herman), Woody Harrelson (Mr. Peanut), Stanley Tucci (Ethan Skate), and Key Huy Quan (Dr. Amherst), who just bring the magic of this film together. Overall, it was a great cast.
The film is based on a graphic novel written by Simon Stålenhag. I have not read the graphic novel, so I am not sure how much of the movie is true to the novel. However, they have the same plot synopsis.
The film starts off QUITE weird - and I think it spends a bit too long explaining Michelle's backstory and what actually happened to the world. Basically, there was a war between robots and humans, where robots ended up being outlawed, and a treaty was signed to keep robots on one side of the wall and humans on the other. There's also this big evil man, Ethan Skate, who creates an army of humanoid drones that are controlled via neural interfaces that help end the war. These things he creates, people put on their heads, and then their consciousness controls the robots (it sounds weird, but it makes sense in the film). We are in a dystopian sci-fi futuristic world set in 1994, where robots are outlawed.
Finally, we are introduced to Michelle who is in a foster home with Ted (a man played by Jason Alexander), we learn that Michelle's family (her parents and her brother) passed away in a car accident and then a robot that is actually her brother's consciousness controlling it comes to find her (plot twist: her brother Chris is alive, just being used by the big baddies). They end up setting off on an adventure, getting into lots of trouble with authorities along the way and then Michelle follows Keats and ends up teaming up with him to help find her brother. I love how they end up in a whole new world, and Michelle basically turns Keats' world upside down (but in a little sister kinda way). I love when they go to the "robot mall" and end up being kidnapped by robots, but they actually end up helping them find who they're looking for. It's a whacky adventure, weird, silly, and wonderful all at the same time. Luke thought it was very weird. BUT right when you think everything is going to work out, it hits you right in the feels.
And, I love the silly little jokes here and there - especially the one where the hairdresser robot ends up cutting Keats (Chris Pratt)'s hair and it's just his own hair and Michelle is like "you going to a job interview" - it gave it a bit of a light-hearted feel and also the Twinkie sweats, absolutely funny. The robots that Michelle and Keats have are also sooo funny, especially Herman because he's just like, LOL I'ma make dumb jokes at the expense of Keats all the time and the banter gives off a bit of Australian vibes (even though it's American).
SPOILER ALERT!
SPOILER ALERT!
SPOILER ALERT!
STOP READING NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE END OF THE MOVIE!
So we eventually get to the big part of the film where a massive fight scene occurs between the evil bad guys and the good robots, and as that happens, Michelle is going to talk to her brother (through the weird robot neurocaster things). So it's kinda like two big things happening at once, and this is where everything is just kinda sad and has that trolley problem twisted throughout it. So Michelle has to end up turning off her brother's life support so they can win the war so to speak, and while this is happening we think that Herman dies to BUT hey, they tricked us, which was such a great twist that Herman was actually still alive (as much as robots can be) and it was great banter again between him and Keats because Keats basically confesses his undying love for his robot Herman, and then when he realises that Herman isn't actually gone, he denies it all in that sort of we know you're lying way (idk the word for it). Simultaneously, we get an awful story of sacrifice and death while getting a story of new hope.
But, having your brother die twice is f*cked up and made me really sad. This movie definitely evoked a lot of feelings inside me. In the end, the robots are no longer outlawed and humans and robots live peacefully together again and the big baddie Ethan is sent of to jail and we see news clips at the end of everything that went on following Michelle's adventures.
To me, the movie was weird but in a good way. I definitely think it could have been better if they just thought about the concepts a bit more and maybe set it in the future rather than the past - then we might have more tech to work with. As I said, the casting was great, but the plot of having to k*ll your own brother to save the world is a bit f*cked. But in the end, Michelle's character wasn't selfish (not that saving your brother would be selfish) and she decided to save the world.
I would give this movie probably a 6.5 - 7 out of 10. I wouldn't watch it again. It was scary but not too scary, kinda like it would be okay for a kid to watch scary (although still wouldn't recommend a kid to watch). It would be a good film to start with if you want to get into the sci-fi/dystopian genres and don't know where to start because it would ease you in. It didn't make me as uncomfortable as some other dystopian movies/shows but I think it's worth a watch.
Have you seen The Electric State? What did you think about it? Did you think the reviews were too harsh? Let me know in the comments below!
Thanks for reading!
Ash x
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