Mark Reviews Movies: THE CURRENT WAR

Become a fan on Facebook Follow on Twitter

Review by Mark Dujsik | October 24, 2019

Note: The movie, as released to theaters, is being advertised as the "Director's Cut," following an apparently rushed premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017. I have not seen that first cut and, hence, cannot comment upon whether or not this new version is an improvement.

When you hear a good story and want to recount it for others, you also want to make certain that you fit in all of the details. There are fewer American stories more fascinating than that of the so-called "war of the currents," in which a bunch of geniuses of invention and industry set out against each other in a race to provide electricity to the United States. The makers of The Current War heard that story, and they want to tell it to us. They definitely don't want to miss any of the details, either.

The resulting movie, then, is awash with details—so many, in fact, that there's barely any time for the movie to tell an actual story. There's a narrative, obviously, as the years pass by in a flash and powerful men plan, scheme, put their battle of ideas to the public, momentarily succeed, constantly fail, and almost seem to forget what they set out to do the first place. As for a story, in which we have a grasp on some central theme and a sense of characters beyond what they do, Michael Mitnick's screenplay, well, really wants to make sure the details are all there.

The major players are titans of the 19th century: inventor Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch), industrialist George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon), banker J.P. Morgan (Matthew Macfadyen), future magnate Samuel Insull (Tom Holland), and, standing by waiting in the wings with a handbook filled with impossible ideas, "futurist" Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult). Their names have all but faded from modern business and industry (although Tesla, who was dealt the worst hand of the group during his life, had his name adopted by another technology giant 60 years after his death), but their achievements live on, regardless of company name changes, abbreviations, and mergers.

That's the nice side of the story, but Mitnick and director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon want to remind us that people usually don't become legends without getting their hands dirty, without a few nasty tricks, or, in this specific case, without killing a bunch of animals to "prove" that the competition's product is the deadly one. The "war of the currents," which was very dirty business, is retold here—from Edison's slanders, to Westinghouse's thievery (and Edison's, although that's significantly glossed over here), to Morgan's threats, to the injustice Tesla faced as a naïve immigrant. There are multiple stories within the greater tale of how electricity came to the U.S. This movie tries to fit them all into one, rushed narrative.

It begins with Edison, who receives a patent for the incandescent lightbulb (not exclusively his invention, which the movie points out—although it also only scratches the surface of the real man's diabolical potential). Soon enough, in 1882, the famous inventor has lit up parts of Manhattan with the Edison Illuminating Company, with the financial help of Morgan.

Meanwhile, Westinghouse sees electricity as a necessary commodity, like food or shelter, in this burgeoning new world. Unlike Edison's direct-current, which flows like water from a source, the industrialist believes that alternating current, which moves in both directions, is the superior, less expensive, and more efficient type. The two companies battle to illuminate the cities and other regions of the country, and the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago serves as a final battleground.

Over the course of the intervening decade, much happens—a lot of it repetitive when it's condensed as much as it is here. The major battle is for the public trust, with Edison repeatedly stating that alternating current is lethal—omitting the fact that any electricity of a certain amount is deadly. For his part, Westinghouse repeatedly argues that he has the better method, and as long as he stays honest, he will win in the end. Edison betrays his own principles when it comes to using technology for killing, namely the electric chair, and Westinghouse can only take so much slander about his electricity before he tries his own scheme.

That's really about the end of any significant characterization here. Mitnick does attempt to make Edison more sympathetic (He's obsessed with work and misses out on vital time he could have spent with his family, especially his wife, played Tuppence Middleton) and, after an often-delayed flashback scene, to suggest that Westinghouse is capable of an honest form of deception (The flashback involves his time in the Civil War—trying to distract a man with a pistol aimed at his head by complimenting the build of the weapon). The other figures come and go, only as needed by the events of this dramatization of history, and poor Tesla, already the victim of relative obscurity in his own time, barely plays a part, despite the early suggestion that the character might be a key player in all of this.

The Current War does move at a clip, as if Gomez-Rejon sees the narrative as motor, always in overdrive. That approach, though, highlights just how much nuance and context, regarding both the story and the characters, is sacrificed to cram in as much information as possible. The end result is like watching a dramatized encyclopedia entry—heavy on facts and low on actual drama.

Back to Home

Buy Related Products