Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse -- the greatest inventors of the industrial age -- engage in a battle of technology and ideas that will determine whose electrical system will power the new century. Backed by J.P. Morgan, Edison dazzles the world by lighting Manhattan. But Westinghouse, aided by Nikola Tesla, sees fatal flaws in Edison's direct current design. Westinghouse and Tesla bet everything on risky and dangerous alternating current.
The Current War is such a unique film and really stand out from the crowd, not only does it focus on Thomas Edison but also the race to mass-produce electricity and the effects that it had on society at the time. The film actually surprised me a lot, for a variety of reasons such as the timeframes, the actors involved and just the general emotion behind the film - but was I surprised because of a lack of these and the poor execution or was the film a stroke of genius? Here are my thoughts.
I'll start off with what I liked about the film, as usual. The way in which a film starts is absolutely crucial in seeing how good it will be, a boring and weak start to a film means that the rest of it will struggle to grip and entertain because it essentially starts a leg behind. This was not the case here, the film began in such an informative and interesting way, seeing a description of the characters, the timeline and a general overview of what the purpose of the film was given an extremely helpful description to the film because we knew right from the beginning what the film would be about, and it provided some context to what was happening. This was really helpful and gave a great introduction which helped us to follow the film much more easily because we knew the facts. I was also really impressed with how immersive the characters in the film were too, not only did they really help to get us involved in their relationships and their personal lives but also the general state of society during the film too, I loved how the characters spoke to each other about technologies and events that hadn't happened yet, like seeing the telephone being created and the introduction of films was great and really cool to see. Not only this though, but the characters feel really exciting and unique, I like how only the main characters are focused on, which allows us to properly follow their stories and to really focus on them as characters and their emotions, whilst the background characters feel more mysterious, this just helps to emphasise the importance of the main characters and makes it easy to follow. They also feel really immersive too, seeing Tom Holland and Benedict Cumberbatch as two key actors in this film was great, I thought that their characters felt really realistic and generally enthrilling, mainly because of how we saw them as characters progress throughout the film, as well as this they provided a really powerful emotional impact too which helped to really make them multidimensional and exciting too. Seeing Thomas’s wife die from cancer early on in the film was really powerful and arguably a large catalyst for the excitement in the 2nd half of the film because it was clear to us that after she died, he carried a strong and powerful pain. Which was really well executed in a way that really got us understanding his emotions, because the relationship he had with his wife was established and key throughout and therefore seeing his emotions was multiplied because of the background context and character relationships we had been immersed in. The cast can't be faulted. Cumberbatch does a great job as Edison, another of his wilful geniuses, always compelling to watch, although oddly accented. If you see anything with him in it, you will not be disappointed. Tom Holland is great too though, I love seeing him in films because he seems to really add a playful aspect to his characters, and that was the case here too, it was very good to see his character consistently influencing Edison and to see how his and Thomas’s relationship adapts and evolves throughout the film. The general characters overall feel really immersive though, I was surprised because I usually don't like Historic based films like this, but the way in which the characters interacted with each other and how they were displayed actually made them feel really interesting and exciting, which makes you want to continue watching - it isn't slow at all and the characters are always doing things which keep us entertained. It isn't just about entertainment though, they also feel fluid and realistic - I liked seeing the emotion behind the competition of Edison and George Westinghouse because advances from one character really influenced the other through a variety of emotions, and seeing how each character reacted to the other's fortune was really exciting and helped to bounce backwards and forwards between them, creating a really fluid and immersive character set. As well as this, the characters relationships change and adapt, keeping them fresh and interesting, seeing scenes like Westinghouse and Edison making up at the end compared to fabricated lies being spread, shows how far their relationship changes and adapts which I like, there is a focus on these main characters which is good because it allows us to concentrate on them but the background characters also provide excitement and meaning which is really well done.
I thought that the plot for the film was really fresh and creative, not only this though but it genuinely felt well made and fluidly put together. Like I mentioned earlier, seeing the narrative introduction was really helpful in establishing the story, as well as letting us know the characters. I thought that the whole plot was really well laid out, not only did events and scenes bounce off each other but they were simple and made sense, which meant that they could be easily enjoyed - it was so fluid though because of general themes that flowed throughout the film, seeing themes such as Lightbulbs, electric chairs and their families really helped to ensure that different sections of the film specifically focussed on one theme, which means that during those scenes, it is really easy to follow what is going on in relation to the theme. It's a new style but it works well. The series of plot twists and changes also keep the film interesting and fun, sure there isn't a massive twist at the end but seeing Thomas’s wife die, as well as Westinghouse’s friend dying too is surprising and definitely unexpected, it's not a massive plot twist, but a series of smaller ones help to keep us on our toes. The film is just generally fast-paced though, sure it is slow in terms of the progression of technology but the characters lives move quickly so there is always something exciting happening and that gives the film a really fast yet fluid flow, making it exciting yet easy to follow and simple, a great combination. But the addition of subplots also helps to keep the characters exciting because they help to add new twists to the plot of the film. Who will get the contract to light up the Chicago World Fair? And who will be discredited by being associated with the first bungled execution by the electric chair? All of these really help to keep the film exciting, but they also ensure that at the ending of the film, all of the loose ties are brought together to form a nice little package. All in all, though, I really like not only the unique idea for the plot, but also the way in which it is executed to form an exciting and a thrilling race, whilst still being educational and informative on a historic time.
The film is far from perfect though, the invention here has definitely not been perfected. Some of the key issues that I had with the film was that it felt really difficult to remember some of the background characters names, and therefore sometimes I completely forgot who some of the characters were, I recognised them but I didn't know their relevance or what their purpose was. I was also really confused by the intensity of the film, at the start it felt really intense and full-on which was really well-executed, but then the film dropped off and it felt like not much was happening or the stuff that was happening had no relevance really, which rendered long scenes in the film fairly confusing and pointless which was a shame because it felt like the film dropped off at points. A big problem in the film is how redundant Tesla feels. Nikola Tesla is one of the biggest minds in history. He invented AC current, radio, remote control, Tesla coil etc. He is sidelined in this movie, why? There isn't really an explanation and even though Westinghouse is a good character played by an equally good actor, it just feels like he plays far too large of a part in the film, and there are so many opportunities where Tesla starts to creep back into the plot until he disappears for a long period of time, he should've had a much more prominent role because of his role in the real-life events. As an actual film though, it was pretty solid.
Overall, I would give this film a 7.5. My favourite element of the film was how unique and exciting it felt because of the idea behind the storyline, combined with an exciting set of characters created a historic drama which actually felt exciting and realistic and resulted in a strong overall film. But there were far too many issues such as under-representation of Tesla, easily forgetful characters and a very rocky series of intense and plain scenes which combined to make a yo-yo effect. Would I recommend this film though? Yes, it was definitely an exciting viewing experience and will really allow you to find out more about the magic thing that powers basically everything nowadays, whilst delving deep into a really exciting period of history. Needless to say though, if you like a specific genre that doesn't cover this then it is unlikely that you will enjoy this film.
Thanks so much for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did watching the film and writing this review, have a lovely day! :)