SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
Despite its talented cast and production value, The Current War’s clumsy story and overly elaborate cinematography produce low-power chaos.
It’s cruelly ironic that a film about bringing electricity to the masses is so low on energy. On paper, this movie sounds like a sure-fire success. Its story, about an inventor at the top of his game clashing with a resourceful, steadfast engineer over their respective visions for the future of the world, is the exact sort of thing that good biopics are made of. Anchor it all with a cast that includes the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, and you have all the makings of a hit. And that’s exactly what The Current War would have been, if not for its haphazardly written story and awkward cinematography. This is a film not saved but rather spoiled in the edit.
It’s the 1880s. Inventor Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) lights up part of New York City, establishing direct current electricity as the dominant electrical system on the market. As Edison begins to receive contracts from municipal governments across the United States, he’s challenged by the engineer George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon), who presents his own alternating current system as a more cost-effective alternative. They square off to determine whose system will power America and the rest of the modern world, with Edison taking drastic steps to paint AC current as lethal, while Westinghouse collaborates with Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult) to win the bid to supply electrical power to the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago.
It’s a story about the clash of two big personalities and wants to give both their fair share of screen-time. But rather than finding a good balance, it tends to jump from one story arc to another, sometimes making it difficult to keep track of our characters. Events such as the death of Edison’s wife Mary wind up having little impact in the grand scheme of things, even though they ought to be life-changing. In contrast, Edison and Westinghouse’s horrific affair with the electric chair is sporadically revisited every so often. This is odd; for a film about some of humankind’s greatest inventions, it’s less than willing to show us the actual invention or discovery of anything other than the electric chair. And as you might imagine, the invention of the chair isn’t exactly inspiring or magical, nor does it make you sympathise with its inventor. There’s no “eureka” moments to get excited about, and the audience is mostly kept in the dark about why exactly these men are being called brilliant in the first place.
The cast is decent, despite not being given much room to work with. Cumberbatch adds another arrogant, misunderstood genius to his portfolio, putting himself on cruise control for the duration of the film. You get the distinct sense that he’s just delivering his usual stock-standard stuff, which is good already, but with no added frills or extra brilliance. Shannon’s Westinghouse is marginally more sympathetic. They both try to make this a clash of the titans, but there’s fewer sparks flying than you might expect when they do battle. Hoult’s character is wonderfully Old World European and distinct from a cast of mostly American characters, but he’s tragically underused. As in history, Tesla is given short shrift in this film. Likewise, Katherine Waterston, who plays Marguerite Westinghouse, is fierce and intelligent but given limited screen time to work with. The only noticeable thing about Tom Holland, who plays Edison’s assistant, is his odd sideburns: an outlier in a film with decent production value and impressive period-appropriate costuming. It’s hard to really care that much about some of our characters, especially since the film’s choppy editing means it isn’t easy to follow its overarching narrative.
The film’s camera work and cinematography is all over the place. The camera can’t sit still even for a second, and its angles and perspective are drastically overwrought. Sometimes less really is more, and you can’t help but wish that someone had told the people behind this movie to stop tooling around with the camera. It seems as though they’re locked in a competition amongst themselves to see who can craft the most elaborate shot or sequence. While inventiveness with a camera is all well and good, at points far simpler shots would have been more than enough. Someone needs to reintroduce a sense of calm, restore order and bring the team back to basics.
It’s a shame because underneath, it’s a fascinating story, and against all odds, this movie does succeed at bringing some of its details to your attention. Still, this is one conflict you never really feel part of, with characters you aren’t given the chance to really connect with. For the most part, this film is decidedly low-power stuff.
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