The Current War

America in the 1880s. Thomas Edison backs direct current and George Westinghouse alternating current, and the question stops being scientific and becomes a fight over who gets the country's electrical system. To make his rival's system look lethal, Edison stages demonstrations electrocuting animals and contributes indirectly to the development of the electric chair. Nikola Tesla is in between, working with both and agreeing with neither. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon directed. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Edison, Michael Shannon plays Westinghouse, Nicholas Hoult plays Tesla and Tom Holland plays Edison's assistant Samuel Insull. The real story is behind the film. The producer Harvey Weinstein pressed the director to have it ready for the 2017 Toronto Film Festival. What screened was unfinished; some visual effects were missing, and Michael Shannon had not been de-aged in the Civil War flashbacks. The reviews were overwhelmingly bad and it was counted among the festival's biggest misfires. When the sexual misconduct allegations against Weinstein broke, the film was shelved. Gomez-Rejon got the chance to make his own cut, ten minutes shorter than the Toronto version. Thanks to a clause in his executive producer contract, Martin Scorsese blocked another distributor from releasing it and brokered a sale to 101 Studios, who paid around 3 million dollars with a commitment to a wide release. Who it is for: viewers who like period biography and rivalries between inventors. Who it is not for: anyone wanting depth of character. The film cuts between the two men constantly and never stays with anybody for long.