The Electric State (2025)
Rage with the machines.
I’ve been seeing an absolute ton of headlines just trashing a recent movie lately, so of course I’m automatically interested in it. Since it’s out on Netfilx, it also means there is no barrier to entry for me watching it, since I already have that subscription. Is this thing as bad as it would seem, or is it another case of people experimenting with “negative opinions get more clicks?” I can’t say for sure, because I didn’t click a single one of those headlines - but I sure can check the movie out. Grab your nostalgia pants and plug in your extension cord, tonight we watch The Electric State.
Our story doesn’t revolve around robots nearly as much as you would think considering how much they frequent all the media around the movie - in fact, although we are given a backdrop of an alternate-history where the robot revolution happened before we had even gotten past AOL as the dominant email provider, the story is largely a human one. Our main character is a girl - she’s had some troubled times even though we know thanks to the beginning that it wasn’t always so bad for her. It does take a little to fill in those blanks as we aren’t privy of the information visually until after the movie already tells us about the car accident . One night returning to her kind of crap home changes her fate however. A robot breaks in - but this isn’t just any robot, this robot seems to be implying it’s her brother thought to be dead. Now she’s on a quest to get to the exclusion zone where all those “bad robots’ were sent and locked up after the war to find answers.
The actors here do a decent job. Sometimes, they could probably do a better job, but it doesn’t really feel like anyone is phoning things in for a cash grab. There’s also a surprising number of actors in here I didn’t know would be in here, which led to plenty of little cameo moments where me or my watch buddy would pose a “wait - is that so and so?” to the other. Line deliveries carry plenty of variety, and can be mostly emotional when they want to be. They even do a decent job of getting a lot of mileage out of the brother-maybe bot and it’s limited vocabulary. That said, and as I alluded to earlier with the “could probably,” there are a few times when the actors feel like they could have used a little something to help with the performance whether it be something to act against or a more impactful direction, or maybe even some extra experience to draw from - something. Still, with the amount of effects work and assumingly fake characters that aren’t actually there, they do a pretty dang good job for the vast majority of the movie. Robots have a range of zest and robotic-ness to them for their line deliveries, and the usage of body language and details to add character to them might be surprising if you go off of all the negative talk as well.
When it comes to the characters, there is a bit more focus than some of the stuff I’ve watched lately. The two main humans get some development as things go on, sure - but you really wouldn’t expect to see some of these side characters getting the development and progression they do. Yes, most of it isn’t on the robot side - and there is certainly a level of acting that gets lost particularly in any human-controlled remote drone - but it’s not just the story that’s getting serviceable attention here. Pretty much the only human that doesn’t really get to develop somewhat is our main villain - and it’s not that they didn’t give him some kind of stuff to fluff out his person, it’s just it’s so little and so late I don’t think most will care to look past the generic “villain with supposed good intents” that he is. Now, just because I’ve been talking up the amount of character in here - it is still pretty one track with it’s mind because of the story. It’s not like suddenly one of the heroes becomes a traitor and everyone has to deal with or something like that - but it is nice to see some characters get their requisite family movie depth growth as it goes on.
A girl and her bot
I imagine one of if not the big selling point of the movie is going to be the effects and nostalgia that ties with it. Mind you, although the nostalgia is there - seeing mascots specifically like Mr Peanut or items like an old VW bus - it’s not necessarily relevant to the plot at all. I feel like this is a big thing that sets it apart from something like Ready Player One where the entire puzzle revolves around a programmers nostalgia and dirty companies that we all know and love more in movies then the constant real life ones. Here it’s just set dressing. The effects related to most of it is pretty good though, and there are a few scenes where things look less impressive or off, but for the most part it’s well enough done and put together that a you’ll go through the entire movie with out feeling insulted by them (CG scorpion Rock) or like someone just didn’t get the time they needed to do something (that fight in the Black Panther movie). There’s also a wide variety of robots to see, and plenty of things like fridge-trebuchets and apocalyptic style hot-rodded robots cobbled together from cannibalized parts. It’s good, and on the 4k monitor I watched it on it was pretty as it needed to be - I may eventually go back and watch it at some point on the projector, but given the movie isn’t the action-heavy spectacle that I normally would immediately desire re-watching, that will probably wait for another time.
Costumes are around, but honestly not anything too outlandish. Most of the fancy stuff is all in the effects department with the robots. Settings are pretty varied, with everything from normal houses to deserts, run down malls to truck stops. There’s even some digital world stuff in there that’s pretty neat looking. There’s also a level of detail in things that I would have never thought to add that’s pretty appreciable - things like dust on the robots, or the computer robot whose keyboard drawer keeps sliding open whenever he leans. I would never have thought to add something like that, but it really helps liven things up. I won’t go as far as to say believable just for the sake of the fantastical elements, but really it feels like it’s totally believable for the world it’s in. I honestly don’t have a whole lot complaints when it comes to the visual side of things - it can be plenty colorful when it wants to be, it’s well lit, things look mostly believable, and it provides plenty of ooh and ahh about despite any times it might falter a little bit.
Audio contains a few nostalgic songs - the end credit song I don’t think I’ve heard since whichever Guitar Hero game it was in - so to say I remember stuff afterwards is slightly cheating this time around. A lot of it does help with the mood or things that are going on beyond just being a “people love this song” sort of thing, so that’s nice as well. Line deliveries are fine, and subtitles are pretty dang decent to match. Of course, past all this audio and visual stuff, there lies the thinking persons stuff. Yeah, you know I don’t care about thinking persons stuff most the time - if it’s there, cool, but I’m not expressly going out of my way to dig it up. It’s got the classic staples you would expect here - what it is to be human, big bad corporations, the fight for rights, and people being slaves to their technology use and how it replaces true connections with one another. I can’t say I totally agree with it - as a person who regularly uses technology to bond and connect with people, I’m off the opinion that even friendships formed without being in person are still just as legitimate. I’m also the idiot who will thank voice-activated things like an xbox every now and then because it’s habitual to thank people for doing things though, so I guess check my mileage on that one. The movie also does have jokes - and they’ll hit or land entirely based on your humor preferences. I got a good chuckle from a few lines, so if you line up with me on most things you can expect a laugh here or there but most likely won’t have to replace your carpet from the rolling you’ve done on it.
No wheels, no problem.
As a final note, I should mention I have no knowledge on the thing this was supposedly adapted from, despite it apparently being a very well known and loved thing. This movie was, in seemingly typical fashion, better then all the doom-saying headlines would have had me believe. The more times it happens, the more I believe the power of “state of mind” really effects watching a movie. I went in here looking to have fun, and I did. Some people might go in expecting the most refined diamond they’ve ever seen, and end up being quite disappointed. If I’m being honest, I have no idea how a movie that cost as much as this one supposedly did is going to make a return of investment for Netflix, especially without a theater release where 90 percent of the ticket cost goes straight to the company, but I also feel that doesn’t make it an inferior movie. Actors did fine, effects were good, plot was handled well enough if felt like a family adventure flick as expected, music had moments of being the stuff I like, and it’s overall put together good. I’d say it’s safe and enjoyable to check out if you’re just looking for a fun popcorn time, just keep evil Steve Jobs away from your toaster.