A Netflix adaptation of the very good Electric State graphic novel starring Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown did not seem like the best idea at baseline, and the trailers did not do much to dissuade that. But now reviews are coming in for the Netflix blockbuster, reportedly one of the most expensive movies ever made with a $320 million budget, and they are utterly disastrous.

The Electric State currently has just a 23% score from two dozen critics on Rotten Tomatoes, the alarming part here being that this is a film from the Russo Brothers, the former Avengers directors who are now set to direct Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars in the coming years for Marvel.

While fans certainly enjoyed their Infinity War and Endgame movies, it is somewhat concerning that most of the rest of the Russo Brothers filmography outside of Marvel (they also did The Winter Soldier) has not been received well. That includes Netflix’s The Gray Man (45%), Cherry (37%) and now The Electric State.

The hope, of course, is that they inherently understand something about Marvel films that does not translate into their other movies, but producing a $320 million movie for Netflix that has awful scores is not terribly reassuring when their next project is meant to be these pivotally important Marvel movies, especially in a very wobbly era for the franchise to begin with. It will also be missing many core characters that have built up audience appreciation for a decade like Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanov this time around.

Ultimately, I would still lean toward the idea that the Russos can make these Avengers movies good because well, they haven’t made a bad Marvel movie, at the very least. The Gray Man, their last big blockbuster, may have been poorly scored by critics and easily forgotten, but it did boast a 90% audience score. I doubt The Electric State will do the same, but we’ll see.

The larger story here is Netflix, as how could they throw a third of a billion dollars at this movie and not ensure that it was better than what has been produced here? And why would you spend that much money on an Electric State adaptation in the first place? Great source material, but this isn’t Avatar or say, Avengers we’re talking about here. Though Netflix just announced $18 billion more in content spending to come, saying there was effectively no ceiling on what they will spend to produce its avalanche of content, including things like this.

The Electric State is out on March 14, 2025.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.