Since Avengers: Endgame, the Russo Brothers haven’t been able to replicate their Marvel success anywhere else. As directors, their Tom Holland-led TV series Cherry failed to get mainstream notice—to be fair, a common problem for Apple TV+ series—and their Netflix film, The Gray Man is synonymous with the kind of disposable dreck Netflix’s film side is known for. Their biggest post-Marvel hit is the Prime Video series Citadel, which has spawned two spin-offs (so far). This is why they’re going back to Marvel, to get a little of that box office shine back, but first, they’re trying another Netflix film, one that hopefully won’t be disposable dreck.
The Electric State is based on Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag’s 2018 graphic novel of the same name. It’s set in an alternate version of 1997, in a dystopia that evolves after a war between robots and humanity, except the robots, or “battle drones”, all kind of look like toys. The art in The Electric State is striking, it’s no wonder the Russos wanted to turn it into a film. It’s inherently cinematic. Their Marvel collaborators Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely adapted the script, and the film stars Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Ke Huy Quan, Stanley Tucci, Giancarlo Esposito, and the voices of Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Anthony Mackie, Alan Tudyk, Billy Bob Thornton, Jason Alexander, and Woody Harrelson. That’s a helluva cast.
The trailer for The Electric State dropped yesterday, and I don’t hate it. The slowed-down version of “Champagne Supernova” is a bit on the nose, but the look of the film captures the look of the original art, with whimsical robots littering a ruined, retro-futuristic landscape. Just like the book, the contrast of goofy robots and devastated world is a good hook, though after the last few years, I don’t really trust the Russos as directors. (As producers, sure, they backed Everything Everywhere All at Once.) I’m afraid of how they might have flattened Stålenhag’s unique vision in favor of making it more accessible, because the Russos are in the business of mainstream entertainment. This trailer makes me think the Russos understand the visual appeal of The Electric State, I’m more worried about the narrative.
I’m also morbidly fascinated by the budget, which is rumored to have ballooned past $300 million, per Matthew Belloni’s The Puck newsletter. The VFX for all those robots, having to do CG backgrounds of the post-war landscape, none of that is going to come cheap. But The Electric State is going straight to Netflix next March, there’s no box office to be had. I know Netflix sees films like this as an investment, and after a decade-plus, they are still trying to produce their own culturally impactful blockbuster, and that kind of money is blockbuster money. But I just don’t know how long I can listen to “we don’t have enough money to pay people living wages” and “we keep giving the Russos bottomless buckets of money to make movies no one remembers” and not eventually ask if these two things are related.
After a couple high-profile box office bombs, which are also big creative swings from high-profile directors—Megalopolis and Joker 2—a lot of people have been chastising anyone having box office conversations as being anti-art, or at least being focused on the wrong things. But I don’t see these conversations as mutually exclusive. For one thing, we’re talking about the health of an industry that has just been through several years of unprecedented upheaval and its recovery from those challenges. That’s an ongoing situation worth keeping an eye on. For another thing, Megalopolis cost $120 million and looks chintzy as hell, so it’s fair to ask where that money went, because it is not on the screen.
But also, I will eventually review The Electric State, and criticism is the place to address it as an art object. Right now, I’m thinking about how forgettable the Russos’ non-Marvel work has been, that $300+ million budget, and Netflix crying poverty any time people bring up living wages. Seems like a connection might exist between these things! Thinking about them won’t stop me from watching, possibly even enjoying, The Electric State. But enjoying a film also won’t stop me from wondering about the economics behind it, and how that impacts this creative industry I love. Economics shouldn’t be held against a film’s artistic value. But cinema shouldn’t be a veil for the people responsible for producing it, either. Ignoring what goes on behind the scenes never leads to anywhere good.
Here are Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown at New York Comic Con yesterday.
