The Current War is a fairly low wattage affair

The Current War has spent so much time wandering in the cinematic wilderness that I really wanted to like it more than I did. Unfortunately the story of the film’s time in movie purdah may be the most interesting thing about it.

The film was screened at the Toronto Film Festival two years ago and was all set for release in October 2017. However as a Harvey Weinstein production it got caught up in his legal troubles and the demise of his company. In the end all trace of Weinstein has been removed from the credits, the film has been sold to new distributors and goes on release in the UK this month and the United States in October – just two years late.

In a perfect world The Current War would be the little movie that could; triumphing over adversity and sweeping all before it at the Oscars. Sadly this is an imperfect world and its chances are slim.

Like most films showcased at Toronto this was originally seen as an Academy Awards contender. It ticks a lot of Oscar bait boxes; serious subject, period drama, big cast in mutton chop whiskers, lavish production values, and educational too. In the end though this is a pretty workmanlike affair which fundamentally lacks drama and tries to cover too much ground.

Set in the latter part of the 19^th century it’s the story of the battle between two men, Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Joseph Westinghouse (Michael Shannon), to bring electricity to America. It should be about the dawn of the modern age, instead it is an argument about the merits of Edison’s Direct Current system versus the Alternative Current system proposed by Westinghouse. Nikola Tesla, played by Nicholas Hoult, also pops up but gets fairly short shrift.

One big flaw is that we are given no one to root for; Westinghouse was marginally the more decent of the two but it’s a close run thing. There is no real insight into these historical ciphers. The film becomes a debate about respective philosophies and since we are never told the fundamental difference between the two systems – there’s some flimsy guff about hosepipes – we can’t really form an opinion. It’s an argument that unfolds in front of us but in which, apart from those who are electricians or physicists, we have no agency.

Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon compensates for the basic lack of drama with a very fussy aesthetic. There are so many overhead ‘God shots’ that there should be a warning for vertigo sufferers. The camera operator also appears to be on a bungee cable as shots disappear out of the top of the frame or pan dizzyingly left or right. This endless movement took me right out of the picture. There is a difference between creating rhythm and letting the story settle.

Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon anchor the film with solid, if unspectacular performances. One advantage of the delay is that Tom Holland is now a star but he’s not given a lot to do until it’s too late and Spider-Man fans will be disappointed. Overall the effect is very stagey – this is playwright turned screenwriter Michael Mitnick’s first screenplay – and no amount of dizzy camera tricks can change that.

Given the story this film should have been better than it is but the reality is we don’t know whose story it is or why we should care. There are so many heavy-handed allusions to the development of moving pictures that the overall message seems to be that we wouldn’t be watching anything at all if it wasn’t for his contribution.

Overall The Current War is a low wattage affair in which sparks resolutely refuse to fly.