The Electric State (2025) - 6/10

The Netflix algorithm brought me here, with a fun looking trailer and a decent cast. Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown) is close to her younger brother, Christopher (Woody Norman). He’s a bit of a genius, theoretical maths, that kind of thing. A geek. He likes robots. Which is a shame because in this world, no one else does. An anti-robot wave spurred by billionaire tech bro Ethan Skate (Stanley Tucci) is rallying against the robot uprising lead by Mr Peanut (voiced by Woody Harrelson). The robots have been doing the jobs that society… Americans, don’t want to do and they’ve had enough. We whistle-stop through a newsreel civil war with Madeline Vance (Holly Hunter), where we meet solider, Keats (Chris Pratt). Humans win ironically thanks to Skate’s tech and imprison the robots in, yep, The Electric State. Fast forward, Michelle has lost her family, including her brother and finds herself in an VR obsessed society. Think retro rusted cyberpunk and you’ve got the style and this really is mostly about style, but it looks damn cool, like Beeple’s insta come to life. When a robot breaks into Michelle’s nightmarish foster home with Ted (Jason Alexander) claiming to be her brother all hell breaks loose and the pair are on the run. The robot isn’t her brother, but his consciousness is inside. They just need to find where his human body is. They need help from Dr Amherst (Ke Huy Quan), but they find it with Keats, now ex-army and looking like Point Break era Patrick Swayze. Running around with a bot has got Michelle in trouble, it’s illegal and Colonel Bradbury (Giancarlo Esposito) is on her tail. Are you keeping up? It sounds complicated, but it’s not. It’s a bit disjointed though. Too many moving parts so to speak and it struggles under its own weight. It’s silly, but really quite simple and quite good fun. Plus who doesn’t love a bleak dystopian future filled with goofy robots. Christopher, the boy genius is obviously the key to Skate’s success and when he stops delivering, because his robot avatar is out in the world with his sister. The societally addictive VR future tech glitches.  It’s bonkers. The acting is ropey. The story arc is convoluted. It’s too long. It’s full of plot holes. I quite like it. It’s a feel good film. Easy to watch. Good needle drops, Judas Priest, The Flaming Lips. Honestly I was expecting very little and maybe that helped, but this is a lot better than some reviews would have you believe.

6/10