‘The Grid Unplugged’ Review – Common Sense Doc Makes The Pitch For Moon Shot Plan To Fix Power Grids

“I think that what is essential for this problem is a global consciousness, a view that transcends our exclusive identifications with the generational and political groupings into which, by accident, we have been born. The solution to these problems requires a perspective that embraces the planet and the future because we are all in this greenhouse together.” — Carl Sagan, Congressional on the Dangers of Climate Change, circa 1985.

Carl Sagan’s words read less like congressional testimony and more like a clarion call. The solutions are no more ready today than they were 41 years ago. The problem today is that time is no longer a luxury. The climate is changing at a rapid clip, putting extraordinary pressure on, among many things, the nation’s power grid. As we saw in the California wildfires of 2025, an aging, fragile power grid can snap faster than a toothpick in a crisis, plunging not only an entire region or country into darkness, but also causing a detrimental societal impact.

The question before world leaders and consumers is this: what if the biggest threat to modern society isn’t a single disaster, but the failure of the system that powers everything? Using the California wildfires as a launching point, filmmaker Rick Cutter embarks on a global quest to see whether we can fix the world’s power grids faster than we’re breaking them.

In The Grid Unplugged, Rick Cutter makes it clear he doesn’t hail from a traditional filmmaking background. His background is in technology systems, utilities, and energy infrastructure. Originating from a red state, he brings a unique perspective on the power grid. Where he comes from, the power grid is never a source of politics, but of dependability. That kind of frank approach stopped him in his tracks at the 2021 Code Conference. The world must double its energy generation to meet rising demand — while simultaneously transitioning to carbon-free power — in roughly one-third the time it took to build our existing grid. What was most alarming was not the statistic itself, but how little reaction it generated, even among industry leaders and media.

Through interviews with industry leaders, energy experts, innovators, and policymakers, the documentary underscores the challenges of modernizing infrastructure. Climate change is exposing aging cracks in grids. But it’s more than global warming; AI and data centers are zapping every last bit of juice; the time for pontification is over. Now is the time for action.

The film does not paint a rosy picture. Don’t expect a swooning pitch like many documentaries. Cutter’s background outside of the film is actually helpful here. The discourse is frank and matter-of-fact.

Fossil fuels are running out, but the hunger for energy grows every single day. The need is growing, not shrinking, especially as the world’s population balloons and grids are stretched thinner than tissue paper. And it is not only climate-changing events and unpredictable storms that threaten power grids.

Solar flares are a real and historical possibility. The film focuses on the Carrington Event. To date, it is the most intense geomagnetic storm on record. The resulting flares disrupted telegraph stations and even sparked fires. However, the incident, while etched in geomagnetic history, is a cautionary tale. If even a tenth of this scale happened today, the widespread blackouts and power-grid surges would be, to put it mildly, devastating!

Danger is inevitable, but the film makes clear that danger does not have to spell doomsday. Echoing the Moon Shot engineered by President Kennedy, Cutter and his interviewees make it clear that we need a similar big-picture, national project to protect and rebuild our power grid infrastructure. Policy proposals and sweeping rhetoric are not solutions. We need an actionable plan—one that would enact the largest infrastructure project in human history.

In an age of intense polarization, Cutter offers this solution not from either the left or right, but with plain-spoken common sense. The choice is to keep kicking tires, cross our fingers, and hope the waning grid and aging infrastructure hold up. But wishful thinking is just that: wishful thinking.

While The Grid Unplugged frames the moon landing as more than a historic anecdote, it’s a poignant reminder of human capacity for greatness and rising to the challenge. “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

The Grid Unplugged held its World Premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival. 

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