After the Russo Brothers’ Marvel movies like Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame became the highest-grossing movies of all time, it’s easy to be excited about the next project the American filmmakers come up with. But there’s no need to worry about snagging tickets early this time as the Russo Bros. will be hitting up Netflix with their new sci-fi movie The Electric State. Other than the graphic novel-adapted movie hitting streaming, there’s one other thing that’ll make the Russo Bros.' next movie different from their Marvel movies and it makes my anticipation grow much more.
The Electric State may not be in the realm of the superhero genre with its cast of superhuman characters fighting with suited armor. This time around, the Russo Brothers introduce us to a different type of hero in the form of robots. While movies like Wall-E, Reel Steel, and The Wild Robot show robots in a positive light, we’re used to seeing dystopian movies like the Terminator films or The Matrix films have evil robots taking over the world.
As the Russo Brothers said in their interview with Collider, robots are “90%” of the characters in the upcoming sci-fi movie with a heroic robot helping a young girl (played by Millie Bobby Brown) find her missing brother. But robots and Netflix aren't the only standout qualities of the Russo Bros.' The Electric State. After the high-grossing filmmakers were asked what the hardest shot of the effects-heavy film was to complete, here was Anthony Russo’s answer:
It's a tough question. I don't know if I'd point out one single shot, but I will say this: we've worked with visual effects a lot in our movies. This has been the most amount of visual effects we've ever dealt with in a film. That was challenging itself in terms of creating that. Also, we were trying to do a very grounded real world that has a period feel to it, so we had to have a high level of fidelity in the visual effect work to create recognizable realism so that people would understand it as period.
Avengers: Infinity Wars had a small number of shots without visual effects and Endgame’s final battle VFX reel showed everything that was put into the superhero flick. So you would think you can’t get more visual effects heavy than a Marvel movie. But the fact that the Russo Brothers said The Electric State has the most visual effects that they’ve used in a movie really says something. Just when you think the final Avengers movies gave us a groundbreaking experience in theaters, it looks like Anthony and Joe Russo will continue to blow us away on our Netflix streaming service.
At the same time, it makes sense how VFX-heavy The Electric State is considering the movie takes place in a dystopian world of the ‘90s and robots take up a huge portion of the characters. Plus, I’m sure Anthony and Joe Russo want to reflect on the visuals that were in the Simon Stålenhag graphic novel it’s based on. It proves what outstanding dedication the filmmaking brothers have for their upcoming Netflix movie.
Even though The Electric State has the most visual effects that the Russo Brothers have used in a movie, it doesn’t mean the experience was a real cakewalk for them. Anthony Russo continued to talk about how challenging the visuals were for their 2025 movie release, but how incredibly proud they were of the final result:
It was a difficult film to execute. We had an amazing team. We couldn't be prouder of the work that everybody did. The design of the film is breathtaking. This movie is inspired by an incredible graphic novel by Simon Stålenhag. Our job was to do justice to his amazing artwork, and I hope that we did with the film.
Based on The Electric State’s awesome trailer, I know we’ll be in for a real treat. We see Millie Bobby Brown, who’s known for playing a superhero in Stranger Things, team up with Guardians of the Galaxy’s Chris Pratt. Plus, Captain America’s Anthony Mackie will have a voice role in the film presumingly as one of the robots. So, there’ll still be a Marvel vibe with this movie’s incredible ensemble cast. However, something tells me the real heroes of the new movie will be the robots who look fantastic and so authentic. As usual, it looks like the Russo Brothers are on the verge of providing audiences with an entertaining piece of cinema that’ll be pleasing to the eyes and our imaginations.
Just when you thought the Russo Brothers’ Marvel movies were VFX-heavy, it looks like their new sci-fi flick The Electric State will surpass that feat. With the filmmaking duo coming together to build a visually appealing movie coming to your Netflix subscription, I have a feeling we’re about to experience a visual spectacle we’ve never seen before on March 14th.
