What's Wrong with the War of the Currents with Benedict Cumberbatch

The painting about the legendary confrontation between the famous inventors of electricity turned out to be a kind of long-term construction for the authors. Back in 2017, the film was shown at the Toronto Film Festival, but then either because of the dissatisfaction of the audience, or because of the scandal around Harvey Weinstein, who was listed as one of the producers, The War of Currents was finalized for almost two years.

The writers even brought in Martin Scorsese himself, who helped with the final cut and made, as How Martin Scorsese Saved ‘Current War’ From Harvey Weinstein is said, a leaner and more interesting narrative. True, now it is difficult to know how much the film has changed, few have seen the original. But, alas, the picture still has enough problems.

And from this it becomes a little offensive. After all, the story itself, which formed the basis of the plot, is very interesting. And the excellent cast pleases. But the action constantly stumbles, which greatly interferes with perception.

Cool actors, but characters are not revealed

The plot of the picture is dedicated to two legendary personalities who gave the United States electricity. The arrogant Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) is trying to promote DC lighting. But George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon), already famous for the invention of air brakes for trains, disagrees with him.

He believes that alternating current will provide cheaper electricity, and with lower voltage losses, it can be distributed over long distances. However, Edison is trying to prove that Westinghouse's ideas are dangerous to humans.

The irony of history is that each of them is right in his own way. This is what they tried to show in the film. The plot avoids focusing on only one character, trying to capture the contribution of all participants in the events. But, oddly enough, this is precisely what turns out to be the main drawback of the picture. Having put into action several bright and interesting characters at once, and even performed by actors beloved by the public, the authors simply do not have time to tell about each one.

It seems that they pay more attention to Edison. The viewer learns about his family tragedy, and about his readiness to go even to low deeds in order to achieve his goal. But he still seems like just another arrogant genius played by Cumberbatch - too often the actor appears in such an image on the screen.

At the same time, Westinghouse looks more worthy, but there is simply not enough time to reveal his thoughts. The relationship with his wife, flashbacks from the times of the war - all this is shown only in passing. There is simply nowhere for Shannon's talent to really open up, his character looks like a simple business man without any special spark.

But the most offensive thing is the way they treated Nikola Tesla in the film. The direct participant in all events, who made a huge contribution to the development of electricity, remains an almost episodic character. Nicholas Hoult is trying with all his might to squeeze the maximum of emotions out of the few scenes that gave him to the hero, but the image of a brilliant dreamer is simply lost in the whirlwind of events.

A lot of intrigue, but little emotion

The authors dealt even more strangely with the story of inventions itself. Or rather, they devoted too little time to this. The whole story is based on technologies that were revolutionary for those times.

But instead of focusing on the process of creating a light bulb, a generator and other amazing things, the plot tells more about how the inventors fought to advance them. Even the development of the phonograph here looks like just a background element for revealing Edison's personal life, and not another breakthrough in science.

Of course, it was precisely in the “war” that was indicated in the title that the opposition was more important than the talent of the inventor. But to see in Edison not only a salesman who does not disdain black PR, the story is too lacking in romance.

Those rare scenes where Tesla tries to talk about the device of a non-existent machine, or the ending, when the hero of Cumberbatch describes the sensations of creating the first working light bulb, look incredibly touching. And then the story switches back to money and competition.

Perhaps this lack of emotion would have been less noticeable if the plot itself had been more gripping. And here the picture is greatly damaged by the proximity at the box office with the film "Ford v Ferrari" by James Mangold. The director just managed to show the real intensity of passion in the history of engineers. And in the "War of currents" only facts were transmitted.

At the same time, the picture looks very attractive: the actors are wearing classic costumes, and the camera snatches out very graceful angles. And even the soundtrack creates a good atmosphere on the verge of a thriller. But there is no such tension in the action itself.

And yet "War of the currents" is a film that should have been released, if only for the sake of some viewers interested in the events told. Someone will understand the personality of Edison a little better, another will hear about Westinghouse for the first time, and others, perhaps, will understand the difference between direct and alternating current. In addition, such a cast is simply not capable of acting badly, and a meeting with loved ones will be a gift for many fans.

And one can only complain that such an interesting story deserves a more vivid and emotional embodiment than what was shown in the film.