The Current War Movie Review

The Current War (2017)

Rent The Current War on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Michael Mitnick
Directed by: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon, Katherine Waterston, Tom Holland, Tuppence Middleton, Matthew Macfadyen, Nicholas Hoult 
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer

Plot
The dramatic story of the cutthroat race between electricity titans Thomas A. Edison and George Westinghouse to determine whose electrical system would power the modern world.

Verdict
All the facts about the burgeoning electrical industry are here, but this doesn't present a compelling story. It feels much longer than it's run-time, and I'm surprised at how many stars are in this when it's so boring. It fails to capture the wonder and mystery of electricity, which probably should be it's first goal. I don't think editing could make this a good movie, the script needs a thorough re-write. This doesn't have a story arc. It's a bunch of scenes loosely tied together that fail to entertain.
Skip it.

Review
Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch), having developed electricity, wants to light up New York. This doesn't set up much. Edison wants to light the night, but he doesn't do any work to achieve it, and when he does provide the light it doesn't even feel like a payoff. It just happens. That's the problem with this movie, there isn't a narrative linking the scenes to form a story.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays Thomas Edison

The war is Edison's DC voltage limited by distance and many motors against Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult) and George Westinghouse's (Michael Shannon) AC current which has a higher voltage but can extend further. This fails to create a narrative out of this war. Despite the star power, this feels like a B movie. It relies heavily on exposition rather than showing us what's happening. This movie wants to capture everything that happens, but never figures out the story, the through line.

Nicholas Hoult plays Nikola Tesla

Edison proclaims he's against inventing anything that's a weapon, but that changes when he's trying to win the electricity war. This again is another sequence that lacks emotional resonance. Edison uses Westinghouses's power for an electric chair. He didn't create the machine, but he did put the pieces together. They can both be a bit petty as they want to win.

This is an uneven retelling of burgeoning electric industry, but it isn't a compelling story. There's no build up to triumphs. Making Edison and Westinghouse more adversarial would at least give them more to do. While there's a deadline in the movie, the characters never seem desperate to meet it. All of this creates a movie that feels so much longer than it actually is.