Bland, easy to follow, for fans of everything: what has the Netflix algorithm done to our films?

"When the annals of 2025 at the movies are written, no one will remember The Electric State. The film, a sci-fi comic-book adaptation, is set in a world in which sentient robots have lost a war with humans. Netflix blew a reported $320m on it, making it the 14th most expensive film ever made. But it tanked: though The Electric State initially claimed the No 1 spot on the streamer, viewers quickly lost interest."

"Another way of classifying The Electric State is as an example of the algorithm movie, the kind of generic product that clogs up streaming platforms and seems designed to appeal to the broadest audience possible. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo, whose style might be politely described as efficient, specialise in this digital gruel; they also made the similarly forgettable action thriller The Gray Man, starring Ryan Gosling."

"If you haven't clicked on an algorithm movie, you've probably been offered one by autoplay. Often, the title obligingly lets you know what's in store: Tall Girl, a 2019 teenage romcom, is about a, well, tall girl; Uglies, a sub-Aldous Huxley sci-fi satire, is about a future in which cosmetic surgery is a rite of passage; in Murder Mystery, Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston play fish-out-of-water Yanks who turn Poirot on a European cruise."

The Electric State is a high-budget sci-fi adaptation set after a human victory over sentient robots; Netflix reportedly spent $320m, ranking it among the most expensive films. The film opened at No.1 on the streaming platform but rapidly lost viewership and has fallen out of the top 20, signaling commercial failure. The movie's aesthetic recycles familiar blockbuster tropes—Spielbergian childhood quest, Mad Max wasteland, Fallout retro-futurism—producing a forgettable mockbuster. The film exemplifies the 'algorithm movie' formula: broadly appealing, generic products optimized for streaming platforms. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo use an efficient, crowd-pleasing approach and previously made similar streaming productions like The Gray Man.

Read at www.theguardian.com