POWER HOUSES

Edison vs. Westinghouse to electrify America in atmospheric The Current War

No, it's not about the latest international outrage launched by our so-called administration. But The Current War, concerns a subject every bit as cutthroat and high-stakes as any recent shenanigans out of DC: the clash of Titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse as they race against time and each other to bring the magic of electrical power to America.

The movie is powered by a few Titans of its own. Benedict Cumberbatch stars a Edison (another brusque, eccentric genius in the Sherlock/Alan Turing mode). Michael Shannon plays Westinghouse, peeking out over a formidable handlebar moustache (the era is around the turn of the last century).

Nicholas Hoult pops up as Nikola Tesla, the unsung hero of the conflict, and Matthew MacFadyen (the smoldering Mr. Darcy in Pride And Prejudice, once upon a time) plays J. P. Morgan, the fickle financier for whose funding the others compete.

The subject may be electricity, but director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon doesn't go in for a lot of flash and dazzle. His focus is on the hard work and endless trial-and-error that goes into producing a miracle like the electric light bulb — and its unexpected uses and sometimes grim consequences — and the dueling egos and private agendas of the miracle-workers who make it happen.

Gomez-Rejon and scriptwriter Michael Mitnick rely on effective storytelling, interesting characterizations, and period opulence to give the movie its charge.

The First Jedi? Hoult as Tesla powers up the World's Fair

 And pay attention to Chung-hoon Chung's often stunning cinematography and canny use of split-screen and other techniques, which remind us what the movie only hints at in its later scenes — that perhaps Edison's most enduring legacy is as a pioneer of the motion picture.
(Read more)