This adaptation of The Electric State is a mawkish, sanitised crime

The Electric State
★★

Netflix

When beloved books get the blockbuster adaptation treatment, disappointed fans are an inevitability. But Netflix’s new big-budget adaptation is more likely to inspire outright anger.

The Electric State is based on the 2018 graphic novel by Swedish artist Simon Stalenhag, whose artworks depict unsettling images at once mundane and otherworldly. His earliest works, which he began sharing on social media in 2014, feature scenes from a desolate Swedish countryside littered with mysterious machinery and giant abandoned robots. The retro-futurist images evoked a distinct sense of melancholy, even before Stalenhag began telling their backstories in his books.

The Electric State, Stalenhag’s third book, is a chilling tale of humanity’s relationship with technology, in an alternate 1990s in the US, after a war between humans and robots. It’s a poignant story that touches on grief, memory and human connection.

So what did Netflix do for the adaptation? They handed the story and a reported $US320 million ($507.5 million) to the Russo brothers, the pair known for their loud, colourful, brash Marvel action films. You can probably guess where this is going.

They’ve taken the bones and the gorgeous aesthetics of Stalenhag’s story and Americanised them beyond recognition; this version of The Electric State is a family-friendly action film utterly devoid of subtlety or nuance.

Set in an alternate 1994, two years after a human-robot war, started in this version by the Worldwide Robot Rebellion and essentially won after the evil head of Sentre Technologies, Ethan Skate (Stanley Tucci as a hammy panto villain) introduced Neurocasters, devices used for fighting the robots that have now been repurposed for leisure activities, causing many to be addicted to their headsets.