Millie Bobby Brown as Michelle in The Electric State Paul Abell/Netflix

The Electric State, the 2017 graphic novel by Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag, is a haunting journey through a burned-out retrofuture. The book collects dozens of landscapes following a young woman and an android traveling across an American Southwest littered with abandoned military and commercial robots, and populated only by emaciated human drones who have lost themselves to a drug-like virtual reality that the reader never sees. Alongside the art are short vignettes written from the characters’ perspectives reflecting on the collapse of their world, the nature of consciousness and the people they loved and lost. It’s gut-wrenching, thought-provoking and strangely romantic.

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THE ELECTRIC STATE ★ (1/4 stars)
Directed by: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Written by: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
Starring: Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Ke Huy Quan, Jason Alexander, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Giancarlo Esposito, Stanley Tucci
Running time: 128 mins.

So, naturally, the direct-to-Netflix film adaptation of The Electric State from Avengers: Endgame directors Anthony & Joe Russo is a dumb, unfunny action movie for children. 

Millie Bobby Brown stars as Michelle, a rebellious teenage orphan living in an........

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