Netflix's $320m sci-fi blockbuster is 'soulless', 'dumb' and a hit

Netflix's latest big-budget film The Electric State, starring Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt, is one of the most expensive movies ever made, and had some of the most scathing reviews in recent memory. But that doesn't mean it will flop.

Film critics haven't minced their words when delivering their verdicts on The Electric State.

It is "a turgid eyesore" and "top-dollar tedium", according to the Times. It's "slick but dismally soulless", declared the Hollywood Reporter, while the New York Times called it "obvious, garish and just plain dumb".

Paste pointed out its eye-watering budget, billing it as "the most banal way you can spend $320m". Warming to the theme, the magazine summed it up as "one hell of an artistically neutered, sanitized boondoggle".

There have been some kinder reviews. Empire said it was "breezily watchable" and worth three stars, while the Telegraph awarded four stars to the "Spielbergian treat".

But overall, its 15% Rotten Tomatoes score is a meagre return for any major film, especially one costing such a lot. The $320m (£247m) figure has been widely reported but neither confirmed nor denied by Netflix. It would make The Electric State the most expensive streaming film ever.

Critics' opinions, however, have become more irrelevant in the streaming age. The bad reviews didn't stop The Electric State from going straight to number one on Netflix's chart after its release on Friday.

It fits into Netflix making star-packed, entertaining and escapist movies that often get panned by reviewers - but are watched by hundreds of millions of subscribers.

"I would love to say that what I've written and what other critics have written will matter, but I just don't think it will," says Digital Spy movies editor Ian Sandwell.

Sandwell awarded the film two stars out of five, noting that the action and visual effects are "decent", the robots are "impressive" and the finale is "epic".

"My main problem was they'd created this really impressive, visually spectacular world and then just told quite a generic seen-it-all-before story inside it," he says.

Bad reviews might have put people off paying to see the film if it had been released in cinemas, he says. "But on Netflix, I think it will still be absolutely massive. I don't think bad reviews will matter at all."

While a critic's job is to a analyse a movie, "audiences probably do just want a big, spectacular blockbuster to watch at home, with two massive stars", he adds.

The Electric State follows Brown, Pratt and a succession of zany robots in an alternative version of 1990s America, where there has been a war between humans and intelligent bots.

It also stars Ke Huy Quan, Stanley Tucci and the voices of Woody Harrelson and Brian Cox, and is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo - who have made four Marvel movies, including the wildly successful Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame.

The Electric State is based on the graphic novel by Simon Stålenhag, although some critics pointed out that Netflix had missed the book's point about the perils of a consumerist society addicted to technology.

The film is "absolutely not" value for money in terms of quality, says City AM's film editor Victoria Luxford.

And it remains to be seen whether the film makes financial sense for Netflix, she says.

The streaming giant's most popular ever film, 2021's Red Notice, has had 231 million views, according to Netflix's measurements.

"The Electric State will be hoping for that kind of performance, just as a $320m theatrically released movie would be aiming to break box office records," Luxford says.

"The higher the price, the higher the target for success, even with a business model as opaque as Netflix's."

Red Notice, an action-packed art crime caper starring Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds, has a lukewarm 39% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes - but a 92% audience rating.

Other recent Netflix hits have been lapped up by viewers more than reviewers.

Brooke Shields' lightweight multi-generational rom-com Mother of the Bride has a 13% critics' score, Jennifer Lopez's AI action thriller Atlas is on 19%, Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx's family spy escapade Back In Action has 29%, and Kevin Hart's heist comedy Lift is on 30%.

They are enjoyable but forgettable - and easy to watch in the midst of potential distractions at home. The Hollywood Reporter described Atlas as "another Netflix movie made to half-watch while doing laundry" - summing up this new genre.

In December, N+1 magazine quoted several screenwriters as saying a common request from Netflix executives is for characters to announce what they're doing "so that viewers who have this programme on in the background can follow along".

"Electric State does feel like that," Sandwell continues, "where there are just random big dumps of the characters explaining exactly what's happened, sometimes something we've seen recently, just in case you're not following along.

"But it does depend on the movie."

Netflix does have serious and critically-acclaimed movies, too, of course, but they are often not such crowd-pleasers. Emilia Perez, which led this year's Oscar nominations, has not troubled the Netflix global top 10 charts.

Another critic, Gav Squires, says many of Netflix's films are "very average", but don't usually have such astronomical budgets as The Electric State.

"Netflix know what they're doing," he says. "They know that people are probably watching on a second screen, they're not paying full attention. So when they're putting stuff out that costs $30m that people aren't really watching and is kind of average, I'm not too fussed about it.

"But when they're spending $320m on a movie, I start getting really angry. $320m would have paid the budgets for the last, I think, 10 best picture Oscar winners.

"And it just feels like really, really bad value for money at that point."