The Electric State
Stream on Netflix
Runtime: 2 Hours 8 Minutes
Rated PG-13
In the ‘90s there was a robot uprising! The invention of virtual technology that allowed humans to control robots with their minds gave mankind the upper hand needed to defeat the rebellious bots. All robots were then locked away in what is known as the Electric State, a huge area of land with a wall around it. One robot manages to find his way to a girl named Michelle, but once they meet Michelle quickly learns that the brother she thought was dead may still be alive and this robot can lead her to him.
Themes:
Artificial intelligence, war, tests, family, siblings, workforce, family love, foster homes, the 90s, missing people, friendship, addiction, nostalgia, trust, virtual reality, post apocalyptic landscape, humans, selfishness, good people, fighting for what’s important, sacrifice, and love.
Language:
A*s - 6 B*stard - 2 B*tch - 2 D*ck - 1 D*mn - 9 Hell - 16 Piss - 2 Sh*t - 13 Religious Exclamations - 7
The words freakin, sucks, and what the… are all said.
Stuff to be aware of:
Religion - One character is mentioned to be a “gift from God.” There is a reference to the trinity, but it’s used in a we humans are gods way.
Scary - There is a scene in the first thirteen minutes of the movie in which a character hears something outside and goes to investigate. The music and the scene taking place in the middle of the night give it a creepy vibe. An eye looks at the character through a glass jar. The “threat” is a robot with a smiley face painted on it.
There are robots called “scavenger bots” that take other robot’s parts to fix themselves and change their looks. They reminded me of the toys from Sid’s room in Toy Story. Some have clown faces and some look scary.
There are also “dead” robots in some scenes which look a bit creepy.
Sexual - A character tells another one, “If you were here in person you wouldn’t have the stones to shoot me.” The other character says, “Don’t talk about my stones.”
A robot calls a man “bootylicious.” A human tells a robot that he might love him more than a friend. There is also a joke about an “eight-inch model” and not seeing someone’s “eight-inch model.”
Violence - A very horrible foster parent pushes his foster daughter into a robot and demands that she get it out of the house. During a fight scene between a man and a robot, the man falls into a weight bench and cuts his head, which bleeds.
There are several fight scenes between robots and humans. Some of the more intense scenes include: a robot getting the top part of his head pulled off, some robots punching other robots and pulling out wires, a man who is not fighting is shot and killed, and a ton of robots are killed by explosions.
(Spoiler) One character has to be allowed to die in order to save others.
Other - One character flips off another and later a robot flips off a woman. There is a child in a coma in a test tube.
Overall:
Seeing It With Your Family
This movie has some pretty intense moments and a good amount of cursing. Some parts are pretty sad and while most of the violence is against robots it is pretty violent. There are also multiple scenes that to adults would not be creepy, but could be to children. Multiple fun robots in the movie die.
What I Thought
While this movie will likely not become a “classic” or win any awards it is a fun popcorn action flick. It feels like a 90s summer blockbuster. It is worth a watch. Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown are a fun duo and the voice acting for the robots is great. I have not read the book the movie is based on, but watching this makes me want to check out the book. It kind of feels like a mix of Fallout and Ready Player One, but not as good as either of them.
I will say watching Anthony Mackie (who voices a robot in the movie) interact with Chris Pratt it makes me wish Falcon and Star Lord had more screen time together in the MCU.