The Current War: Director's Cut

The Current War: Director's Cut

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon, Nicholas Hoult, Tom Holland

Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

The Story:
In the 1880s, brilliant inventor Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) devises a way to light up the world using electricity through his direct current, which is limited and expensive.  Meanwhile, engineer George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) devises his own electric current using an alternating current, which is cheaper and is more wide-ranging, but also more dangerous.  Edison and Westinghouse get involved in a war of words with the media, as each man tries to win the current war and be memorialized for inventing electricity.  In the process, young Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult) imagines his own version of electricity, and turns to both men for assistance - and is picked up by Westinghouse.  The two men continue their war up to the Chicago World's Fair, where one man's electricity will be used to light up the city and memorialize one into the history books.

The Synopsis:
History is a fascinating subject, and often you never get the whole story - after all, as they say, "history is written by the victors."  Historical films are intriguing in that they're trying to tell a true story, but sometimes that story is muddied and not really fit for the cinematic experience, so certain liberties are made to make it more exciting - and that's not something I have an issue with, because I know I'm not going in for a history lesson but a means of entertainment.  "The Current War: Director's Cut" is supposed to tell this electrifying (pun intended) story about two geniuses (honestly three) and their war of words to achieve immortality by claiming the invention of electricity, but despite a strong cast and beautiful set pieces and cinematography, it ultimately shines as bright as a dull lightbulb.

The unique story of Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla seems ripe for the cinema, but the film here seems to have gotten pretty much all the information wrong - especially concerning Tesla.  While Thomas Edison has been hailed as a creative genius and the "Wizard of Menlo Park," in real life he had some serious personal issues that oftentimes took control of his sense of morality.  Many say Edison stole the concept of electricity from Tesla, who was seen more as an outsider and free-spirited individual compared to Edison's uptight nature.  Again, I didn't go in expecting a history lesson, but it would've been nice to see Tesla get more screentime instead of relegated to supporting-supporting role status.

The idea of discovery is something that many Americans aspire to - to be able to create something long lasting and memorable is the dream of pretty much everyone - and the brilliant minds of these three men are what really made America great.  As their war of the currents waged on, they resorted to slander, lies, and even manipulation of the media to cast the other in a negative light - actually, that was just what Edison did to Westinghouse.  Westinghouse chose to let his alternating current do the talking, which resulted in many more people buying it over Edison's more expensive, low range direct current.  Again, it seems that this concept would've been a surefire Oscar-race hit, but fell short on pretty much every level.

So what went wrong?  It's easy to blame the real-life issues of Harvey Weinstein and his sexual improprieties that shelved this film for two years before being finally released by director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, who worked with producer Martin Scorsese to do several re-shoots and bring out his Director's Cut of the film (which was shorter than the original, which did get a screening at TIFF in 2017 to lackluster reviews).  But the real issue is with the pacing of the film.  It tried to be all-encompassing, spanning over ten years in under two hours, and glossed over pretty much every major truffle the two men took part in, and the film just seemed to jump from one moment to the next with no context of time or character development whatsoever.  Edison was always the upstart who desired fame (in certain ways) over money, while Westinghouse remained stoic and unwavering, choosing to let his work do the talking.  There's no real depth to either man (and even less to Tesla, who virtually disappears from the film entirely).  If the movie focused more on one aspect, it might've been something thoughtful, but by spanning such a wide expanse of time it ended up unmemorable.

Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon, Nicholas Hoult and Tom Holland are all stellar actors in their own wright, and all of them have performed in strong period pieces previously.  It's a shame that a film with such a high caliber of on-screen talent could produce something so mediocre, and once again that has to do with the overreach of story-telling.  Cumberbatch gives his normal effervescent performance as Edison, while Shannon remains stoic as Westinghouse, and Hoult is criminally underused as Tesla, while Holland plays Edison's assistant Samuel Insull with barely a whimper (which is sad since Holland and Cumberbatch have great chemistry together as we saw in the last two "Avengers" films, but I forgot that this film was done prior to them filming the Marvel films together). When it comes to cinematography, it really does shine in the darkness - the film does feel like something that took place in the 1880s, and filters the story through a unique lens and camera movement that really tries to make it more fascinating than the story portrays.  In the end, this could've been a bright shining beacon of light, but due to stretching itself too thin, relegates itself to mediocrity.

The Summary:
Despite headlining some of today's most prolific actors playing the roles of some of America's most famous inventors, "The Current War: Director's Cut" doesn't quite cut it in the ways of storytelling, choosing to spread itself too thin by telling too much story in too little time.

The Score: B-