{"id":7944,"date":"2019-10-23T14:56:25","date_gmt":"2019-10-23T18:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=7944"},"modified":"2019-10-23T14:56:28","modified_gmt":"2019-10-23T18:56:28","slug":"review-the-current-war-directors-cut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=7944","title":{"rendered":"Review: THE CURRENT WAR: Director’s Cut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Handsomely made and well-acted, delayed energy epic is entertaining history lesson.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Originally slated to be released in November of 2017, \u201cThe Current War\u201d got ensnared in the demise of Harvey Weinstein that caused the breakdown of his business. Looks like the delay wasn\u2019t a bad thing, as it allowed for a re-edit that re-branded the film as the \u201cDirector\u2019s Cut,\u201d which should result in improved reviews. After all, back in 2017, after it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival reviews were pretty dismal. While I, thankfully, did not see that cut, I enjoyed this one, and I learned a few things too.

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Benedict Cumberbatch lights up the world as Thomas Edison.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Taking place in the United States in the years after the Civil War, \u201cThe Current War\u201d tells the story of two electricity titans, Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse. The race to electrify the nation is on, and the choice is between direct or alternating current. Edison advocates for direct current (or \u201cDC\u201d), whereas Westinghouse has put his business might behind the alternating variety (or \u201cAC\u201d). While the victor may be widely known to us, the battle the two wage is nothing short of fascinating, and so is the film, directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (\u201cMe and Earl and the Dying Girl\u201d) from a script by Michael Mitnick (\u201cThe Giver\u201d).

A prestige picture on almost every level, it\u2019s an awfully good looking film. Even the fake beards work. The cities and workspaces are detailed and appear to be period accurate. The camera sweeps rhythmically through the set pieces with grandeur, as the score from Volker Bertelmann and Dustin O\u2019Halloran (the team nominated for the Oscar in 2016 for \u201cLion\u201d) swells appropriately. Watching this zippy film, it\u2019s hard not to get caught up in the events that helped shape our world today.

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Michael Shannon as George Westinghouse.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The cast is deep. Benedict Cumberbatch adopts an American accent playing the ambitious Thomas Edison. He\u2019s great here, as the tortured inventor, whose commitment to his family collides with his business aspirations. And Edison\u2019s cut-throat tinkerer contrasts well with the accomplished, professional, businessman Westinghouse, played impressively by a reserved Michael Shannon. As Westinghouse, Shannon, who made his mark often by inhabiting unhinged characters, gets to play a fairly mainstream guy, with extraordinary business acumen. And the film is able to balance the two men\u2019s backstories well.

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Tom Holland plays Edison’s secretary Samuel Insull.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While aspects of the Edison-Westinghouse competition are handled in a perfunctory fashion (checking off the boxes, so to speak), there are moments that will grab the viewer emotionally. Edison\u2019s personal family struggles are impactful, and Westinghouse is haunted by a past event on the battlefield. We learn something of what shaped these titans.

The supporting cast includes Spider-Man himself Tom Holland, in the significant role of Samuel Insull, Edison\u2019s secretary. And Holland is good, as the practical voice that Edison desperately needed as he battled Westinghouse. Katherine Waterston is excellent as Marguerite Westinghouse, the confidant that husband George sought for support and guidance. Their relationship is refreshing. Nicholas Hoult plays Nikola Tesla appropriately tweaked, providing the film a few choice comedic moments.

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Nicholas Hoult as Nikola Tesla.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If there is a failing, \u201cThe Current War\u201d does feel a little by-the-numbers, at times. This makes the movie seem more like a history lesson, and less like a dramatic, epic feature film. But I think that\u2019s the point. Telling this story of the groundbreaking historical moments is more important than merely entertaining the viewer. This is a meaty, informative bit of filmmaking. And while liberties are, no doubt, taken for dramatic effect, there\u2019s little here that distracts from covering the events that brought power to a growing nation at a pivotal time.

Given the reception that this \u201cDirector\u2019s Cut\u201d is likely to receive from critics, one wonders whether the original version will ever see widespread distribution. Regardless, this one certainly isn\u2019t the failure that critics said of its predecessor.

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Delayed film gets a makeover and wide release with “director’s cut.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[79,1786,1785,1788,1787,1784],"class_list":["post-7944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-drama","tag-epic","tag-george-westinghouse","tag-historical-epic","tag-history","tag-thomas-edison","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7944"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7951,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7944\/revisions\/7951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}