Netflix accused of ‘butchering’ The Electric State after ‘bad joke’ of a trailer drops

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Netflix is gearing up to release its new blockbuster The Electric State, starring Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt, but fans of the original novel have ripped apart the movie’s final trailer.

Following the trailer dropping on Monday, people have accused the sci-fi comedy action film of ‘butchering’ the source material, after being left baffled by the teaser.

The streamer has spent a reported $320million (£266m) on the movie, directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, with the Marvel filmmakers having worked for over seven years to bring their version of the story to the screen.

New footage shows Stranger Things star Brown, 21, as Michelle, an orphaned teenager, teaming up with Chris Pratt’s drifter Keats on a mission to find her missing younger brother in the dangerous ‘exclusion zone’ following a robot war in the film’s retro-futuristic take on the 90s.

‘We have a chance to tear their whole sick system down,’ she’s heard saying, as she urges humans and bots to ‘fight together against the real enemy’, and their motely crew is seen squaring up to fight as Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch’s Good Vibrations is heard blaring out of a speaker system.

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‘Hey, The Electric State is also the name of a beautifully haunting story about societal collapse, emerging technological sentience, and what it means to be human in a world where humanity is steadily losing its humanity. I would love to see that book made into a movie too someday!’ commented @FreelancerLA under the trailer on YouTube.

The Electric Sate, starring Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt, has been rinsed by fans of the film’s source material after its final trailer dropped (Picture: Netflix)

‘We Didn’t Understand Our Source Martial: The Movie,’ added @RFever, while @Teeebug complained: ‘Did these guys even read the book or did they just look at some cool pictures and thought [sic] hey let’s make this a movie!’

‘Why did they even buy the rights to the book to turn it into this?’ asked @Chief_Tanuki, as @mumnik sniped: ‘That moment when you expect a shot of melancholy and decay but get another Marvel movie.’

Comment nowAre you looking forward to seeing The Electric State?Comment Now

‘And what are three words you would use to describe the general feeling of The Electric State? Literally everyone who read it: Haunting. Lonely. Introspective. Russo Brothers: Jokes! Action! Chris Pratt!’ quipped @mispeld2, while @KiafryKyle shared: ‘This looks like one of the most blatantly tone-deaf, commercialised and artistically shallow adaptations I’ve ever seen.’

‘A book that is a gradual, haunting meditation on our growing meshing with technology and societal collapse is turned into this travesty,’ objected one passionate fan of Simon Stålenhag’s original graphic novel.

Fans have claimed the movie looks ‘artistically shallow’ and like ‘a bad joke’ (Picture: Netflix)

‘Why butcher something this unique over and over again? There’s a huge market for contemplative movies and complex sci-fi,’ added @Severian1.

Another user, @EvanSquaredson, identified themselves as a huge fan of both the Russo brothers and Stålenhag but described the trailer as ‘profoundly false and glib, a bad joke’.

‘Honestly, I wish both the Russo Brothers and Stålenhag great success at everything they do, but I also wish the two had never met, based on this.’

On the publisher’s website, Stålenhag’s graphic novel, set in 1997, is described as ‘Stranger Things meets On the Road’.

However, Netflix is likely to have great hopes for The Electric State as the Russos helmed one of the streamer’s most-watched films of all time in The Gray Man in 2022. It’s currently seventh on the overall list of Netflix’s most popular films with 139.3m views in its first 91 days, and a sequel since announced.

The film boasts a star-studded supporting cast, including Ke Huy Quan, Giancarlo Esposito and Stanley Tucci (pictured) (Picture: Netflix)

Star Millie Bobby Brown’s last Netflix film Damsel is also just below The Gray Man on that list, having been watched 138m times in its first three months.

Brown and Pratt are also joined by a star-studded cast for The Electric State, including Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan, Stanley Tucci, Jason Alexander and Megalopolis star Giancarlo Esposito, as well as the voice talents of Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox, Woody Harrelson and Jenny Slate.

Many fans are excited to see the film still too, with @chrishitchen3503 commenting, ‘As a huge fan of the book I can’t wait to see it,’ while @vincentecastro7148 added: ‘Can’t wait.’

The Electric State is released on Netflix on Friday, March 14.

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