Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear. Joe and Anthony Russo made some of the hands down best entries in the MCU, and some of the best superhero movies ever made. They also produce the Extraction movies, which are awesome, and have an Oscar winner in the form of Everything, Everywhere, All At Once.
Yet their filmography really is a mixed bag. The Grey Man, for instance, was entertaining enough but is generally unremarkable. Citadel tried to be a Roger Moore James Bond movie with the tone of Jason Bourne and therefore didn’t really land.
Their latest project is an uber-mega budget adaption of The Electric State, loosely based on the 2018 illustrated novel of the same name by Simon Stålenhag. It is a sci-fi action-adventure set in a retro-futuristic version of the 1990s.
It is out on Netflix next Friday, and the reviews are now in, and… well, read for yourselves…
“Truth be told, there isn’t a single laugh — or even a knowing smile — to be found in this relentlessly stale ordeal, which does for sci-fi adventure comedies what “The Gray Man” did for action thrillers: absolutely nothing.”
David Ehrlich, Indiewire
“Underneath its samey story and MCU-quip-a-thon dialogue is something that’s increasingly rare to find in movies with a similar standing: originality.”
Dais Johnston, Inverse
“Sometimes a movie hits you so hard, you can’t shake it. [This] is such a movie. It’s so dunderheaded and cacophonous that I’m still angry about its existence. A convoluted collision of genres, ideas, and bottom-of-the-barrel nostalgia that cannot be elevated by its stars.”
Kristy Puchko, Mashable
“The film is busy to a degree that grows more and more assaultive. But it’s neither funny nor exciting. Like so many streaming originals, The Electric State seems less a real movie than an imitation of one.”
David Rooney, THR
“There’s no soul, no originality, just a great big multicolour wedge of digital content.”
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“The Electric State contains the most baffling call-to-arms in recent cinema. This is a story, in short, about how all those damn kids should put their phones down and go hug the nearest corporate mascot.”
Clarisse Loughrey, Independent
“…a movie difficult to connect with – who is it for? Millennials who can sense the cynicism in the film’s deployment of nostalgia? Fans of the novel who have already railed against the film in reaction to the trailer? … It’s a bit baffling.”
Tori Brazier, Metro
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has debuted to a 22% positive score, that is just 2.9/10. Over on Metacritic things are even worse with a 30/100 score, whicjh makes it the lowest scoring movie reelased so far this year,, even below Star Trek Section 31 and The Crow.
The Electric State will arrive Friday March 14th on Netflix.