The Electric State is a feature film, not an algorithm-generated product. But critics Lindsey Bahr of the Associated Press and Justin Clark of Slant argued that its familiar adventure beats and weak emotional pull make it feel less like a distinctive movie than disposable “content.” The criticism is sharpest when set beside the film’s real strengths: imaginative robot designs, a technology-conscious premise and the striking imagery of Simon Stålenhag’s illustrated source book.
What is The Electric State about?
Netflix announced the film’s global release for March 14, 2025. Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, it adapts Stålenhag’s 2018 illustrated book. Its alternate, retro-futuristic 1990s is shaped by a failed robot uprising: sentient robots that once served people have been driven into exile, while society has become immersed in virtual reality.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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The Electric State | $22.47 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Tales From the Loop | $28.92 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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Electrical Black Book (2nd USA Edition) | $33.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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Things From the Flood | $22.55 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
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Free League Publishing The Electric State RPG Core Rulebook Tabletop Roleplaying Game for Adults,... | $44.99 | Buy on Amazon |
Millie Bobby Brown plays Michelle, a teenager who travels across the American Southwest with Cosmo, a robot apparently controlled by her younger brother, Christopher. She is joined by smuggler Keats, played by Chris Pratt, and his robot companion Herman. The Associated Press describes a four-year robot war in the story and gives the film a 128-minute runtime and PG-13 rating.
Why did critics call it “content”?
For Slant’s Justin Clark, the adaptation trades the source book’s elegiac atmosphere for familiar late-1980s Amblin-style adventure conventions: quips, action and recognizable genre rhythms. Clark called it “content” at its most nakedly bankrupt. That is his critical verdict, not a neutral description of how the film was made.
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#1 Best Overall
AP film writer Lindsey Bahr makes a related point without claiming that an algorithm literally created the movie: “The Electric State was, of course, not made by algorithm, which is an admittedly cheap shot for a Netflix original. Unfortunately, it just feels that way.” The distinction matters. The charge is about the viewing experience—the sense that familiar ingredients have been assembled without a sufficiently individual voice—not evidence of a particular production process or a verdict on every streaming film.
What works, and what fails to come together?
Bahr’s review is useful because it does not dismiss the film’s visual design. She praises the thoughtful, remarkable robots, including images that evoke Stålenhag’s dismantled and decaying machines. The designs give the movie a vivid physical world and connect it to the book’s distinctive visual imagination.
Rank #2
Her reservations concern what those images do—and do not—add to the story. Bahr criticizes repetitive action and a lack of emotional spark. Clark’s adaptation critique points to a parallel problem: spectacle and familiar adventure cues can keep a film moving without preserving the atmosphere or specificity that made its source feel singular.
| What the film offers | What the cited critics question |
|---|---|
| Designed robots and imagery that recall the book’s decaying machines | Whether striking images develop into a coherent, memorable whole |
| A journey through a society transformed by immersive technology | Whether the premise gains emotional depth beyond its setup |
| Action, jokes and recognizable adventure conventions | Whether those familiar elements crowd out the source’s distinctive atmosphere |
This is why “Is it bad?” is a less revealing question than “Why doesn’t its invention add up?” In the AP and Slant reviews, the tension is not between a film with no ideas and one with ideas. It is between visible craft and a story that, for these critics, does not make that craft feel emotionally or stylistically unified.
Does the film engage with technology, or merely use it as a backdrop?
Virtual reality and the social consequences of technology are built into the premise. Netflix reported that Brown said at a press conference, “I hoped ‘Electric State’ will be a wake-up call to understand our relationship with technology.” That is Netflix’s account of her remark, rather than an independently verified transcript.
The premise gives the film a clear subject to explore: what happens when people retreat into immersive systems, and how technology reshapes relationships and power. But a timely subject is not the same as a fully realized argument. The reviews’ criticism suggests that, for Bahr and Clark, the film’s ideas and images do not consistently deepen its characters or distinguish its storytelling from familiar blockbuster patterns.
Rank #4
How does the movie compare with Stålenhag’s book?
The adaptation question is central because the 2018 book is an illustrated work whose atmosphere is part of its identity. Clark emphasizes the source’s elegiac quality; the film, in his view, shifts toward a more conventional adventure. That is not simply a matter of choosing action over stillness. An adaptation can change pace and form while retaining a source’s mood or point of view. The critical complaint is that this version’s familiar beats, in Clark’s reading, dilute what made the book feel distinctive.
For readers drawn to the film’s robot imagery, Stålenhag’s illustrated book is the most direct way to encounter the visual source. The film’s resemblance to that world can be an invitation to compare the two, rather than proof that the adaptation preserves the book’s full atmosphere.
Best Value
- IMMERSE YOURSELF IN SIMON STÅLENHAG'S EPIC ADVENTURE: Experience the surreal beauty and haunting dystopia of an alternate 1997 America through an RPG campaign based on the acclaimed art book The Electric State.
- DISCOVER A WORLD IN DECLINE: Navigate a fantasy landscape filled with discarded battle drones and the remnants of a once-thriving tech-driven society, creating a visually and emotionally stunning backdrop for your tabletop roleplaying adventure.
- BUILD STRONG CHARACTER BONDS: Collaborate with your friends as you uncover secrets, face moral dilemmas, and challenge your perceptions of friendship, loyalty, and survival.
- POWERED BY THE YEAR ZERO ENGINE: Enjoy the dynamic, award-winning mechanics from Free League’s popular games like Tales From the Loop and Blade Runner RPG, delivering smooth gameplay and rich storytelling opportunities.
- A JOURNEY-DRIVEN ILLUSTRATED RULEBOOK: This role-playing game quest book emphasizes exploration and personal growth, focusing on the travelers' experiences and how the post-apocalyptic world shapes them along the way.
What the promotional robots can—and cannot—tell us
Netflix also built physical robots for a promotional tour. Its March 2025 account says the Cosmo robot’s controller software involved approximately 100,000 lines of C++ code and that the robot could be controlled from a stated distance of 1 km (0.6 miles). Netflix described the promotional Billbots as around 6 feet tall and 750 pounds each, made using nearly 44,000 feet of 3D-printer filament.
Those are Netflix’s figures for real-world promotional builds, not measurements of the fictional robots’ capabilities or independent engineering assessments. They show the scale of the marketing work around the film; they do not settle the critics’ question about whether its visual spectacle serves a memorable story.
Is The Electric State a movie or just content?
It is a movie in the ordinary sense: a feature-length adaptation with a cast, a designed world and a defined story. “Content” is the critics’ pejorative for an experience they see as generic or disposable. Bahr and Clark make that label intelligible by pointing to a mismatch: a visually ambitious, technology-focused film that, in their assessments, leans on familiar adventure conventions without achieving comparable emotional or atmospheric distinction.
That remains a critical interpretation, not a universal audience verdict. The reviews also leave room to value the robot designs and the premise while finding the film less memorable than its ingredients suggest.
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