Following the release of Avengers: Endgame in 2019, the Russo Brothers left the MCU to focus on their own production company, AGBO. Unfortunately, outside of Extraction, the content they've produced hasn't been particularly well-received.
Cherry and The Gray Man received largely negative reviews, while Citadel - an Amazon TV series meant to take over the world with regional spin-offs - largely fell flat. Can The Electric State, which is another streaming exclusive for Netflix, turn things around?
Based on the first wave of reviews, no. In fact, the movie is taking a mauling from critics and currently sits at a lowly 18% on Rotten Tomatoes. That's worse than both Cherry (37%) and The Gray Man (47%).
"The movie’s message about taking a step back from technology to reconnect on a human level is a hackneyed one we’ve heard countless times before," reads The Hollywood Reporter's verdict. "But it’s especially rich coming from Netflix, Kingdom of the Algorithm."
Variety describes The Electric State as "a bland Millie Bobby Brown vehicle" and argues that "the filmmakers have diluted the source material, showing a clear lack of interest in making their creation just as haunting, searing and satisfying as the original product."
Empire concludes, "The Electric State loses some of the quiet profundity of the original text, but as a breezily watchable retrofuturistic jolly, it has just enough juice." The Guardian, meanwhile, says "There’s no soul, no originality, just a great big multicolour wedge of digital content." The Independent was similarly unimpressed by a movie they argue is "both punishingly obvious and completely incoherent."
Metro had little positives to share. "Netflix’s The Electric State is the streamer’s most expensive original movie to date – but sadly it doesn’t show much value for money as the Millie Bobby Brown flick is far from its best," the site's critic writes. IndieWire's D- review wraps up by stating, "Despite all of the clout and capital at their disposal, the Russo brothers can think of nothing better to do than stick our faces in [an ocean of piss]."
The Telegraph's review is positive - it's hailed as a "Spielbergian treat" - but Digital Spy echoes other outlets by explaining, "The Electric State is indicative of too many blockbuster offerings from the streaming service that do just enough to get you to watch, but are rarely good enough to be memorable."
This won't be what fans want to hear ahead of Joe and Anthony's MCU's return to helm Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. However, they've never delivered a bad Marvel Studios movie, and they're only struggling to produce hits outside of that sandbox.
However, the filmmakers had a screenplay from Captain America and Avengers franchise veterans Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (along with a star-studded cast led by Chris Pratt), so it's a real challenge to figure out where it all went wrong for The Electric State.
Either way, the Russos arguably need Marvel Studios as much as the studio needs them at this stage.
The film is based on the graphic novel by Simon Stålenhag and arrives on Netflix on March 14.