Joe and Anthony Russo are well known for their run as directors of some of the most popular films of all time in Captain America The Winter Soldier, and Civil War as well as Avengers: Infinity Gauntlet and Endgame. Ever since they haven’t done as well with their subsequent films. Their latest outing reuniting with a couple of the MCU alumni is The Electric State based on the graphic novel by Simon Stalenhag. They took over as replacements for Andy Muchietti.  It’s a big Netflix release in March. I’m sure most people have heard of it by now.

Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown) and Christopher (Woody Norman) are two young people who have experienced a tragedy in their lives, and then a war/robot apocalypse breaks out and it is a battle of survival. After struggling for a few years, Michelle gets fed up with her foster father watching his VR headset and forgetting about her she embarks on a cross-country road trip with a friendly robot she met. Together, they meet another man, Keats (Chris Pratt), and his trusty robot named Herman (Anthony Mackie). They all get wrapped in a sinister plot by an enigmatic mad man named Ethan Skate (Stanley Tucci) and his army led by Marshall (Giancarlo Esposito) who works for his company CENTRE. 

For years, humans have been in an apocalyptic state after the war with the robots. There is a possibility of salvation, but at what cost. Should humans be at the mercy of VR headsets, or should robots rule over the world with a human at the head of it all. These are the questions this film asks. Questions that might be on the horizon for us in the real world. AI is threatening to take over our existence.  Is scentiant like that far off? I don’t think so. Of course, the whole agenda of trying to prevent the use of AI is ramping up, but it is the convenience of it all too good to pass up for most people in the world as well as governments. Even though this is a sci-fi fiction film, it still has important things to say.

The big story behind this movie is that it had a huge burst ranging in at a little over $300. That is mostly because of the CGI on all the robots and the huge cast of this film. Besides the members of the cast, I already mentioned the movie also stars Woody Harrelson, Jenny Slate, and Brian Cox as voices of robots. There are too many to name here. Just look the rest up on IMDB. Also, Ke Huy Quan plays a doctor who helps the group before and after the robot apocalypse. This cast is very extensive, and I’m sure it’s very expensive to get as the budget shows. Talent cost money, though, and they all did a good job in the film.

The story from the graphic novel was adapted by two frequent collaborators of the Russo brothers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. These two have a knack for writing good screenplays. They do a great job of mixing serious subject matter with a bit of humor.  This story as a whole is a bit comedic, so they didn’t have to go very far with their signature wit and funny banter.  You can tell Pratt and Mackie are having a blast, though. The same goes with many of the other voice-over actors. They seem to be going with the lighthearted nature of their characters quite a lot. In a way, this is a story where the cast and filmmakers are just winking at the audience watching at home. They don’t want us to take this too seriously. Even though we should in a grander scale regarding the world as a whole. It’s scary stuff that films like The Terminator/T2,  IRobot, and others have touched on.

There are some heavy hitters regarding the starring cast in this film, but I want to talk about the chemistry between Brown and Pratt. They had a lot of banter like that of a big brother and little sister. I think it worked pretty well for what the screenwriters were going for. We can all relate to bickering about this with our siblings and having our parents stepping in to break it up. That’s the feeling I got with these two. Pratt has made a cheer of this type of role, and Brown has acted opposite some big name actors like Henry Cavill in similar situations.  By now, she’s used to it as well. I like the chemistry between these two and Mackie as the third wheel. They kept me entertained throughout the movie.

This movie has a PG13 rating because of a few adult themes it’s presenting to the viewers. Maybe a curse word or two could have been edited out to make it PG. Who knows? Overall, this is a lighthearted story. Any previous attempt to make a darker tale was probably the wrong way to go in the end. Netflix and the Russo’s ended up going in the right direction with the comedic take on this property. As a country, we didn’t need another dark apocalyptic take on robots and / or AI trying to take over the world. We know all too well what that could look like by now. We don’t need another reminder of the doom and gloom. This was a good, family-friendly version of this story for the most part. I enjoyed it!

3 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen