It looks good but The Current War is more artifice than content, more style than narrative as Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) locks horns with George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) in the race to provide America with electricity.
Household name Edison had the edge, a man who patented something every other week, but Westinghouse had a business-savy wife (Katherine Waterston). The race takes no prisoners – even the brilliance of Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult) is left in their wake.
Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon tells his story in an overly frenetic, glimpsed moment way, resulting in an entertaining but superficial instructional insight. Easy to watch, almost immediately forgotten.
Rating: 59%
Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, TV’s American Horror Story)
Writer: Michael Mitnick (The Giver, TV’s Vinyl)
Main cast: Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game, The Mauritanian), Michael Shannon (Take Shelter, Nocturnal Animals), Katherine Waterston (Fantastic Beasts, Steve Jobs)
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