The Russo brothers’ latest Netflix venture arrives on our screens under a cloud. A $320m-sized cloud, to be precise. It’s a mind-boggling figure that makes no sense, either artistically or economically. The Electric State, which unfolds in a dystopian alternative version of the late 1990s, ranks among the most expensive films ever made. In the aftermath of a humans versus robots war, the defeated robots have been forced into a blighted exclusion zone, similar to the alien slum in District 9.
Orphaned teenager Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown) must venture there with smuggler Keats (Chris Pratt, recycling the same performance he delivers in pretty much everything) to discover the fate of her younger brother Christopher. It looks phenomenal – the quality of the special effects is exceptional. But this is soulless, emotionally inert storytelling.
