Review: The Current War

As possibly the last major new release appearing in Australian cinemas for a while, The Current War is suddenly surprisingly relevant - and not in a "as the lights go out..." fashion either. It's a film about a lot of things - too many, most of the time - but on thing it does make clear is that human progress is as much about science as it is about business. Knowledge makes money, not the other way around.

The year is 1880, and Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) has invented the lightbulb. Well, a lightbulb; as this movies make clear (often to its detriment), the field of electrical discovery in late 19th century America was a crowded one, and no sooner had someone invented something than a half dozen imitators were selling their wares. Fun fact: the reason why light globes have that strange turn-and-lock arrangement for fitting into a socket is because Edison trademarked the screw-in light globe (which then failed to take off).

One of these competitors is successful industrialist (he makes train brakes) George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon), who invites Edison to dinner to discuss ways they can work together. Edison snubs him, leaving him standing on a train station platform while his personal train rushes by. But Westinghouse is not a man who rushes into revenge; rather, he decides to champion Alternating Current (the AC to Edison's preferred Direct Current or DC) in the rush to electrify America's cities. DC is cheaper and safer than gas; AC is cheaper still, and can be sent further. But Edison believes it is too dangerous, and as the publicity war heats up he's desperate for any sales angle he can get.

There's a third player in all this: Nicola Tesla (Nicolas Hoult), who has big ideas and a history of being fired from everywhere he works (including an early stretch working for Edison). For much of the film it's unclear exactly where all this is heading (Tesla mostly lurks on the sidelines), and while director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon does a solid job of storytelling within each scene, eventually it becomes clear that not all of those earlier scenes were heading anywhere.

This scattershot storytelling is The Current War's biggest flaw. Visually Gomez-Rejon does an excellent job, giving much of the film the muted glow of the candlelight the cast are looking to supplant, while the script (by Michael Mitnick) constantly keeps an eye out for the human side of these technological advances - the wonder of mass electrical lighting, or being able to hear your voice played back to you for the very first time.

While the cast is strong all round, most notably Tom Holland as Eidson's 2IC, Tuppence Middleton as Edison's wife and Katherine Waterston as Westinghouse's spouse, it's Cumberbatch and Shannon that carry the film. This is a more sympathetic portrayal of Edison than the norm lately: he's a huckster and arrogant with it, but he also deeply cares about his family and has real concerns about AC's safety - even if he's more than happy to use those concerns for publicity purposes.

Likewise, Westinghouse is a largely sympathetic figure (there are numerous side references to his refusal to fire his workers) who is driven as much by an urge to build a better society as he is to turn a profit. It's clear this is more of a race than a war, and when a destination finally comes into sight - who will electrify the upcoming Chicago World's Fair and display their technological prowess to the world - the film finally finds its way.

But for much of its length the storytelling is muddled by subplots (is AC so deadly it can be used to kill a man in an electric chair?) and side characters (the aforementioned Tesla, who only becomes relevant when he comes up with an advance Westinghouse needs). There's enough material here for a half dozen films; sometimes too much light can blind instead of illuminate.

- Anthony Morris