*True story again here

IMDB Synopsis

The dramatic story of the cutthroat race between electricity titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse to determine whose electrical system would power the modern world.

This year has been particularly rife with biopics and true stories it feels like, and maybe Directors think this is a good alternative to the Comic Book, Sequel era we are living in. I think there are always great stories being told, but I do find myself getting a little antsy if the movies are not well made.

The Current War is the new movie by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, and and it is detailing a race between Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch), George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) and Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult). This race is for basically the first person to become the electric provider for the country in the most efficient way possible. Edison is the sneaky one, Shannon is the nice one, and Tesla is the imaginative one and it all sets up on paper to be a fun showdown. We hardly get to see that though as the characters are hardly even in the same room together. I understand you have to follow the stories of the actual people, but give us a little more than a 5 minute scene at the end?

To go back and give a little background on the movie, it was actually supposed to come out in 2017. It got held up due to some of the Weinstein drama and got pushed back. The director actually had to convince producer Martin Scorsese to allow him to take 10 minutes off the movie to try and tighten it a bit.

The main issue I had with this movie though was just the way it was filmed. It is so shaky in so many scenes it almost makes you sick. I felt like I was on a cruise ship trying to watch it at points. The dialogue was a little flat as well from what you would think with such a great cast.

Stock Watch

Stock Neutral – Benedict Cumberbatch filmed this while he was clearly in the midst of playing fast talking assholes. He brings such vitriol to every scene you grow to despise Edison by the end of the movie. I do not know if Edison was that bad but I think Cumberbatch clearly has that tactic down.

Stock Up – Tom Holland’s Hair

Stock Up – Michael Shannon was easily the best part of the movie. Playing the soft spoken Westinghouse, he is a force every time he is on screen. I loved his chemistry with Katherine Waterston as well who played his wife.

Stock Neutral – Nicholas Hoult has already been in two below average movies this year with Tolkien and Dark Phoenix, and this makes it the trifecta for him this year. He is not necessarily bad in any of them but he just does not move the needle at all right now. We will see where he goes from here.

*A couple other tidbits

• What did Edison’s wife see in this guy?
• Tom Holland’s role was essentially pointless.

The Current War is a really cool story where I learned Edison started General Electric, which is nice I guess. But as a movie I just thought this was pretty bland otherwise.

Juice Rating:

*All of my Movie Ratings can be found here.