For now, all the Russos have to show for their efforts—and more than $300 million more of Netflix’s money—is
The Electric State, which is neither bold nor ambitious. It doesn’t feel particularly empowered, either, but then, it isn’t the work of artists or even “creatives.” Rather, it’s recycled, self-cannibalizing slop, a dystopian action movie for dystopian times, the cinematic equivalent of Soylent Green. Its signature images of massive, malfunctioning automatons are apt insofar as nothing in the movie works the way it’s supposed to. Even more than
Deadpool & Wolverine,
which was at least semi-witty about the idea of 21st-century blockbuster moviemaking as a burial ground of intellectual properties,
The Electric State suggests a medium on the verge of total collapse. Or maybe it’s a guided tour, picking through the ruins