The Electric State and Black Bag – Movie Reviews

The Russo Brothers are seriously in a slump right now—because what was this? I’d take a thousand more The Gray Man movies over ever watching this again (and I hated The Gray Man too). A war on AI and robots told through sympathy for the AI? It’s just not the movie we need right now. That premise can be done well with at least a little nuance (The Creator wasn’t perfect, but at least it had some artistic integrity).

The one thing I’ll say I actually enjoyed about The Electric State is its visual effects. Aside from some incredibly noticeable green screen (though I think this movie can make a point as to why the backgrounds look like that), I never felt like the effects looked weak or were poorly used. That being said, that’s about all that works.

How do you assemble such a stacked cast—featuring Oscar-nominated and Oscar-winning actors—only to waste them in such poorly written roles? Colman Domingo (Sing Sing fame) deserves far more than another antagonist role; mainstream films need to recognize and utilize his full range of talent. Ke Huy Quan, please don’t follow the path of Ariana DeBose, trapped in underwhelming projects. I actually feel bad for Chris Pratt—he’s an actor who always gives his all, but he’s rarely given the right direction to truly shine. (He found his groove in Guardians, but hasn’t been able to recapture that magic.) As for Millie Bobby Brown, she’s just… fine. Not as terrible as some are saying, but clearly struggling to carry a film of this scale.

As a whole, The Electric State jumps around a lot. It feels like there’s a two-and-a-half-hour cut somewhere out there, but Netflix likely mandated it be trimmed to two hours, resulting in a narrative mess with uneven character arcs, disjointed humor, and confusing action sequences. The jokes are painfully obvious, cliché, and forced, adding to the film’s lack of personality. Ultimately, it feels like an algorithm-driven Netflix project—Frankensteined together to fit the platform’s standards—helmed by Marvel directors and writers who are just recycling their usual tricks. It’s not outright incompetent, but given the talent and budget, it’s downright embarrassing.

‘The Electric State’ Rating – 2/5

Steven Soderbergh has been on a real kicker lately, and I had been hearing truly spectacular things about Black Bag in particular, so I knew I had to see it as soon as possible. While I believe this is his strongest effort in some time (and that’s coming from someone who enjoyed Presence earlier this year), it remains unmistakably a Soderbergh thriller. It isn’t a straightforward action film; rather, it’s a more methodical, procedural, and intellectually demanding piece that requires your full attention from the very start.

The film is slick and deliberately restrained from start to finish. No one ever raises their voice, and there isn’t a single traditional action set piece. Instead, it’s an intricate mind game between the characters—one that pulls the audience in as well. Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett share incredible chemistry, elevating what could have been just a solid thriller into something sleek and undeniably alluring. But for me, Marisa Abela truly stole the show. It’s refreshing to see her in a role that allows her to shine, and she makes the most of every moment.

This film is brilliantly edited, with Soderbergh’s signature style evident throughout—no surprise, given that he serves as both editor and cinematographer. It’s a tight, efficient 90 minutes, which is always a treat. Soderbergh and David Koepp prove to be a fantastic creative duo; between this and Presence, it’s clear they’re completely in sync, resulting in some truly gripping cinema.

Black Bag definitely has its lulls—some slower moments where it starts to drag a bit. There’s a heavy dose of intellectual intrigue, often leaving the audience momentarily disoriented, wondering, Where is this going? But then, the final 20 minutes hit, and they are some of the most gripping I’ve experienced in a movie all year. The polygraph scene, immediately followed by that moment, had me on the edge of my seat, wide awake. It’s a slow-burn thriller, but the payoff is absolutely worth it. Steven Soderbergh proves once again why he’s the master.

‘Black Bag’ Rating – 4/5

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