The Russo brothers’ newest movie, The Electric State, is a science fiction movie that explores the interactions between humans and robots in an alternate reality after a war has taken place. The Electric State is based on the book of the same name, but the movie changes aspects of the graphic novel significantly, giving the movie an entirely new tone. The movie primarily follows Michelle, a teenager at odds with the world around her who decides to journey across the country to learn whether her brother could really still be alive, meeting colorful humans and robots along the way.

Millie Bobby Brown leads The Electric State‘s cast as Michelle along with Chris Pratt as Keats, but the entire supporting cast is also full of A-list stars. As Michelle journeys to learn the truth about what happened to her brother, the movie provides entertaining action and humorous moments, though The Electric State‘s ending also serves as a critique of a world that is overly reliant on technology. With the combination of A-list stars, the Russo brothers directing, and an entertaining plot, it is unsurprising that The Electric State is doing well in Netflix’s charts, but critics have another opinion.

What Critics Dislike About The Electric State

The Movie Has Received Overwhelmingly Negative Reviews

At the time of writing, The Electric State currently holds a dismal 15% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics panning the movie and many actually voicing the same arguments for their dislike. The prevailing opinion of critics is that the movie is largely devoid of any sort of soul or meaning. While the Russo brothers are no doubt great at creating entertaining movies for general audiences, critics have argued that their approach to telling The Electric State‘s story is not creative or unique.

Screen Rant‘s review of The Electric State highlights that the movie’s references are heavy-handed, the actors don’t seem committed to creating anything good, and the movie’s message ultimately rings false. Reviews on Rotten Tomatoes often mention that the movie feels like a poor copy of better science fiction and adventure movies of the past. Critic Lindsey Bahr from the ᴀssociated Press stated that the movie is “lacking a spark and a soul that might distinguish it as memorable or special,” which perfectly encapsulates the most prominent criticism of the film.

Beyond the prevailing take that The Electric State offers nothing new and seems to have no voice of its own, many of the reviewers highlighted the film’s budget. The Electric State is Netflix’s most expensive movie ever, but more than that, it is one of the most expensive movies of all time, period. Many critics have mentioned that the film’s excessive budget feels like a waste of money, especially considering that the movie’s lack of theatrical release makes it impossible to recoup that.

Why Audiences Like The Electric State So Much More Than Critics

Audiences Have Found The Movie Far More Entertaining

Where critics have universally panned The Electric State, audiences have been much kinder to the new Netflix movie. In comparison to its 15% critics’ approval rating, The Electric State has a 74% audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes right now. While there are just over 100 critical reviews, there are over 1000 audience reviews, highlighting the strong affinity that audiences feel for the movie. To that point, though a few viewers criticized it as generic in the same way as critics, most of the audience reviews highlight how entertaining the movie is.

Audience reviewers for The Electric State were more positive about every aspect of the movie than critics. Reviewers especially focused on their enjoyment of the story and its entertainment value. Likewise, audiences have been kinder to the performances of the leads than critics and more complimentary of the 1990s jokes and references. Reviewers also frequently mentioned watching the movie as a family activity, indicating that the ability to watch something that is fun for adults and kids alike is a big factor in enjoyment.

The Electric State’s Critics/Audience RT Split Isn’t Surprising

This Divide Is Fairly Common Among Big Budget Movies

Though audiences have voiced their dislike of critics’ reactions to The Electric State, having a big divide between critics and audience scores for big-budget streaming movies is actually not that unusual. In fact, the Russos themselves are no strangers to this phenomenon. Their previous two movies, The Gray Man and Cherry, also experienced a wide gap between the appraisals of critics and audiences. Likewise, Netflix’s big-budget action film Red Notice, shows that critics and audiences simply are not looking for the same things, and that’s okay.

These movies are all big productions with fun, easy-to-follow plots and big-name stars who serve as an audience draw, so it makes complete sense that audiences would enjoy popcorn flicks like these. Though they might not be breaking new ground in terms of their plots or themes, it does not necessarily matter to audiences who are looking for something to watch to unwind after a long day at work or something to enjoy with their family. Thus, it is completely okay that audiences like The Electric State and critics don’t, as different people are allowed to get different things out of their viewing experience.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, Rotten Tomatoes, ᴀssociated Press