Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Electricity titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse compete to create a sustainable system and market it to the American people.
The Current War is a visually ambitious period drama that benefits from striking, unconventional cinematography with wide lenses and dynamic compositions that set it apart aesthetically. The performances from Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon are committed and watchable, but the script struggles to give the rivalry genuine dramatic weight, flattening complex figures into competing archetypes. The narrative feels episodic and rushed, never fully capitalizing on the inherent tension of the Edison-Westinghouse race. The ending arrives without satisfying resolution or emotional payoff, and the story itself, while historically interesting, is handled in a fairly conventional biographical drama framework.