The Electric State review

 

The Electric State is rumoured to be the most expensive streaming movie yet made though I really think it deserves a cinematic release to truly appreciate the retro futuristic designs on display. Its based on an illustrated novel originally called The Passage by Swedish artist Simon Stalnehag. He started out as a concept artist and illustrator for video games and created the drawings that formed the basis for his books in his spare time, inspired by a childhood love of science fiction films.

Spoilers after the break

Given such visual influences the film looks terrific with impressive vistas aplenty. Though the film adds new backstory and different robots, it maintains his sensibility and creates a vivid alternative future packed with assorted robots all seemingly designed in tribute to Fifties sci- fi imagery. They’re also full of quirky personality courtesy of an exemplary voice cast who lend character to each individual machine. Visually this cornucopia and the alternative history timeline that surrounds them creates an aesthetic that really should be seem in the cinema. Back in the day this might have been a prefect vehicle for Steven Spielberg to have adapted though it’s the Russo brothers who have taken on the mantle. Given the depth of character in their Avengers films, despite all the hardware and action, this seems like it would be a good fit.

The results are not perfect however the scenario and especially the robots are enough to make it a worthwhile. Unfortunately, this has gone straight to streaming which in turn may well be why it met with such a mixed reaction. On an IMAX screen the sound and fury sometimes papers over deficiencies in plot or dialogue because you’re swept away by the sheer scale of the movie but at home this may not be the case.

There definitely are some flaws in the writing of the film. For one thing it is overstuffed with exposition, not all of which is strictly necessary. Viewers are capable of picking up things without drawn out explanations. On the other hand, the one aspect that does need some explaining is left for us to guess which is the ultimate reveal as to Chris’ fate. It leans into his intellect, hinted earlier, but is he really the only intelligent person left in the world? And just how does the set up we see at the centre of Sentre actually work? It all seems so unlikely though luckily there is an emotional story to distract us from asking. Dialogue too can be an issue; amusingly it’s the robots who have the most interesting characters and funny lines.

We’re in an alternative 1990s after a war had broken out between humans and robots who had developed their own society after originally being created to promote Disney movies in the 1950s which is why that style is so prevalent in the older machines. Following the conflict robots were outlawed and those that survived placed in a prison. You may be asking why they were not deactivated and scrapped- well it seems as if the film is reaching for some sort of allegorical contrast with the right of working-class people. The lengthy blurb at the start talks of robots seeking better rights and so on. Yet this is perhaps wisely dropped; in fact, the whole robot war scenario seems like another film which would be interesting in its own right.

Our heroine is Michelle, a girl whose life goes off the rails when her family are killed in a car crash and she’s fostered by a rather cruel man who spends much of his time in the virtual reality style headset that allows its wearer to inhabit a machine and roam around. It seems a little unlikely that after such a conflict that people would so willingly indulge high tech again yet they do make an effective antagonist with a small monochrome screen in the head piece showing the operator.

Michelle is found by a robot called Cosmo, a loveable large faced toy beloved of her late brother. It seems that her brother’s consciousness is actually inside this robot and so they set off to try and find him. Along they way they become entangled with a former soldier turned trader called Keats and his robot Herman who has a wonderful ability to survive by producing different sized versions of himself. Their hideout is a factory packed with annoying toys from the 90s!  This unlikely quartet hide out with a gaggle of misfit robots in an old shopping mall before journeying to infiltrate the company called Sentre where the real Chris seems to be.

Despite the money lavished on the film I wonder if they really should also have spent more time. It feels hurried yet lacks the requisite tension.  The action is well staged but with an efficiency that almost shows the choreography. It’s rarely as exciting as it could be though the unusual robot avatars are effective enough. When it gets to the scenes where they infiltrate Sentre, Michelle gets right to the centre of the operation with far too much ease. I expected some ventilation duct tension at least!

The rebel robots are each charming and engaging thanks to the talented voice cast which includes Woody Harrelson is the folksy Mr Peanut, Brian Cox as the shouty and aggressive Popfly, Alan Tudyk as Cosmo, Anthony Mackie as Herman and my favourite Penny Pal, apologetic yet feisty postal service toy voiced by Jenny Slate. Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt do what they can with dialogue that doesn’t give them as much personality as their metal friends while the latter also has to contend with a terrible 90s haircut. Yet there’s nothing here that taxes either actor as much as their better known roles and in Pratt’s case Keats is a watered down version of those roles. 

Giancarlo Esposito adds another memorable villain to his range and does at least get an unexpected change near the end while Stanley Tucci plays Sentre’s control freak CEO with enthusiasm. Ke Huy Quan turns up as yet another scientist type, it’s about time someone cast him as something else. Surprisingly in the midst of this experienced cast its young Woody Norman who delivers the best performance and the rapport between him and Millie Bobby Brown is perfect. You can believe them as siblings.

The Electric State is not as good as it could be but neither it is as bad as the critics (who let’s face it rarely like science fiction anyway) make out. Yet a few nudges and it could have been truly epic. Even so it is well worth watching, I just wish it could be in a cinema.