The Russo brothers transport audiences to a retro-futuristic 1990s in their latest project, Netflix's The Electric State. The film, starring the talented Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt, debuted on the streamer on March 14, 2025, and since then has gone on to claim the coveted #1 spot on Netflix's weekly Global Top 10 Movies list. Despite this, the film has not been a hit with critics.
With the lines between humanity and technology blurred in a world overtaken by war and corporate greed, the film's protagonist, Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown), sets out on a quest to find her missing brother. She is joined by the robot Cosmo, who appears to have her brother's consciousness embedded inside it, a smuggler, Keats (Chris Pratt), and Keats' own robot companion, Herman. The film's narrative delves into the themes of family, consciousness, and ethics surrounding technology. Weaving a poignant story, The Electric State ends on a note rich with both emotional and philosophical undertones.
The emotional core of The Electric State is the fate of Michelle's brother, Christopher (Woody Norman). Although initially thought to have perished in a car accident that also took the lives of her parents, Michelle later finds that Christopher was, in fact, abducted from the hospital due to his superior intelligence. However, Christopher allows his consciousness to escape and find his sister, propelling her rescue mission. Michelle perseveres through numerous hardships to find her brother, including being hunted by Colonel Marshall Bradbury (Giancarlo Esposito) and losing a number of her robot allies in the process. Throughout her quest, her love for her brother remains strong and palpable.
She comes to learn that the tech conglomerate, Sentre, harnessed Christopher's consciousness due to his intellect, and now maintains a symbiotic relationship with him, meaning if he were to die, Sentre would crash. In a poignant climax to The Electric State's story, Michelle unplugs her brother, ending Christopher's life. Despite the decision being heart-wrenching, Michelle opting to forge ahead with shutting down her brother's machine ensures that Sentre's malevolent hold on the world is broken.
However, The Electric State offers a slight glimmer of hope at the end of the film. The robot, in which Christopher's consciousness was embedded, rises from the junkyard it was dropped into. This hints at Christopher's existence beyond his physical form and also leaves the door open for The Electric State to evolve into a potential franchise.
Cosmo is a pivotal character in The Electric State. The friendly robot serves as the vessel of Christopher's consciousness. In doing so, the robot is able to bridge the gap between the human and technological realms. Moreover, Michelle and Cosmo share a unique bond, through which Michelle draws both guidance and emotional support in her journey to find her brother. The end of The Electric State sees Cosmo deactivated alongside the machine that kept Christopher alive. The robot is then deposited into a junkyard. However, in the final moments of the film, Cosmo reactivates, alluding to the fact that Christopher's essence endures in the robot and that their shared journey may not have yet concluded.
Herman, Keats' steadfast companion, is heavily damaged in the final battle between Sentre's machines and the robots of Blue Sky Acre. Herman undergoes multiple nested transformations, gradually downsizing as each version takes on damage. The robot does all it can to protect Keats, laying into anyone who looks to harm him. In the final moments of the film, Herman sustains irreparable damage to what looks to be his final form, propelling Keats to deliver an emotional speech to his friend. However, in true Herman style, yet another miniature eight-inch version of the robot emerges at the end of Keats' speech. With the wit and humor that is characteristic of the robot, he pokes fun at Keats for becoming emotional, and the two reunite in a touching moment.
Thanks to the actions of Michelle, Sentre comes crashing down. As Michelle disconnects Christopher from the machines keeping him alive, Sentre robots power-off, ensuring the win of the Blue Sky Acre robots. Mr. Peanut confronts Ethan Skate (Stanley Tucci), thanks to Colonel Bradbury, who, upon realizing that Skate is less human than a robot, directs Mr. Peanut to him. Mr. Peanut poignantly tells Skate that Michelle's actions of bringing down Sentre and Skate finally provide robots the chance to really live. With Sentre having fallen, Ethan Skate is taken into custody, and Sentre's oppressive regime disintegrates. In the aftermath of the chaos, Skate's inhumane practices are revealed to the world, including the atrocities he committed with the imprisonment of Christopher.
With Skate and Sentre no more, the landscape of the world changes, with society no longer seeing robots as evil and protestors calling for the end of the Robot Exclusion Zone. People begin believing in Michelle and the vision she has for the world, one in which robots and humans coexist, and humans learn to really live in the real world instead of being unfeeling slaves to technology. Speaking of The Electric State's ending, Joe Russo said: "Technology has incredible positives and can have an incredible impact on society, but it has tremendous negatives, and those negatives include being addicted to it or using it to disconnect from others around you. And the more we do that, the more we find that we don’t treat each other as well, and we can’t communicate as well with one another. If there’s any message in the film, it’s to stay connected to the people around you."
The conclusion of The Electric State skillfully intertwines touching personal narratives with broader societal issues. The ethical dimensions of technological advancements are questioned in a timely approach. While technology can undoubtedly connect and empower, a lack of mindfulness may lead to diminishing society's humanity instead of enhancing it. Moreover, The Electric State's decision to give characters such as Christopher and Cosmo ambiguous fates also sets up a future for potential The Electric State-related works to explore. The Electric State is available for streaming on Netflix right now.
