Netflix's newest 'blockbuster' is a $300 million embarrassment

If you won $300 million in the lottery, what would you spend it on?

A yacht? A mansion? Invest it in an ASX top 200 business?

You could even probably do all of them. Regardless, what you shouldn’t do is make one of the most expensive movies of all time and have it be one of the worst films of 2025.

Well, that’s exactly what Netflix has done with its new sci-fi action comedy, The Electric State.

Ok, let’s get into it.

Directed by the famous Russo Brothers, responsible for the likes of Avengers: Endgame and Captain America: Civil War, The Electric State follows Michelle, an orphaned teen who hits the road with a mysterious robot to find her long-lost brother, teaming up with a smuggler and his wisecracking sidekick.

Now that’s the official synopsis according to IMDB, and if that sounds lazy, it’s because it is.

This film is bleak. Not that it’s poorly lit or that it’s particularly grim, it’s just the most money I’ve ever seen spent on a few actors hanging out with a bit of green screen thrown into the mix.

It’s sad that this is what Netflix spends that much money on.

The Electric State is an ugly film. It is filled with contractually obliged actors making some career worst turnouts and production, while flashy, is some of the most strung together rubbish I’ve ever seen.

Millie Bobby Brown leads this dumpster fire and if I were her, I’d sack her agent.

She is stuck in a lengthy Netflix contract that has seen her in dud after dud after dud. Outside of Stranger Things, she has not been in a Netflix project that she’d want on her resume.

This film is no exception. She is forced to act alongside characters that aren’t real while delivering lines that make no sense for a movie that has no heart.

Chris Pratt is the same.

Since Guardians of the Galaxy, Pratt has been stuck in the depths of a streaming black hole, which is disappointing for someone who used to dominate the box office year in year out.

If it isn’t clear, this film was a chore to sit through. It is akin to the awful Borderlands that came out last year.

The comedy is unfunny, the acting is lazy, the production looks like a fan film and the direction is as poor as I’ve seen all year. All of these factors combine to beg the question, how the hell did this cost $300 million?

Films like this can’t possibly make Netflix any money? There’s no way people are recommending this to anyone.

This isn’t the only movie of its kind that has been released by the streaming service recently, either. Atlas, Rebel Moon: Part 1 & 2, Damsel, The Gray Man and now The Electric State are all super high budget sci-fi/fantasy films released by Netflix that haven’t even come close to justifying their own existence.

There’s no way on Earth that even a record-breaking number of streams can bring back the money that Netflix spent on this movie, even if this was the second coming of The Lord of the Rings.

The Electric State is a grim representation of the almost factory-made state Netflix’s film department is in and will be considered one of the worst films of the year.