Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Current War Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 16, 2020

Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (The Town That Dreaded Sundown, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) describes The Current War as a movie about the future, even as it's set in the past. The film travels back to the late 1800s at the dawn of the technological revolution and follows two competing visionaries -- Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) and George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) -- and their work to light the world through power. But both men face mounting odds and obstacles, personal and professional alike, as they pitch the same idea but offer different solutions to the big problems standing in the way of progress. It's a tight, focused, high energy film, literally and figuratively both.

Edison's DC current works, but it has its limitations. It can't travel very far, which is fine for cities -- the need for countless power stations not withstanding -- but won't work for rural areas separated by acres and miles from the next closest power point. Edison's new hire, Nicola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult), warns that it can't withstand the tests of distance, time, and cost, but Edison is fully invested in the power supply and refuses to be swayed. Meanwhile, Westinghouse's AC current seems the safer bet. He believes his to be more efficient and longer lasting. It makes a smaller footprint and comes in cheaper, too. “The only thing that matters here is distance,” he says. Edison worries. He claims that Westinghouse's product kills to the touch. His may be less efficient, but it's safer. As both men struggle to find real traction and tangible victory in the "current war" they must both find direct and alternate means of stabilizing their enterprises and pushing the world towards a brighter future through their own dark times.

The movie is put together like a boxing match, with Edison and Westinghouse exchanging verbal and commercial blows. Some hits land above the belt -- each man bragging about their respective systems -- and some hit well below, such as when Edison shares damaging “facts” (fake news in today's parlance) about his competitor to the press. They compete on uneven and high stakes economic and personal battlefields that extend well beyond money and fame but their war becomes, in many ways, personal. And like a good fight, the movie is in constant motion, much like the electricity that is carried through the competing currents that promise to power the world, one way or another. Musically, photographically, dramatically: there are no lulls to the experience, capturing a cadence of chaos and momentum that is never draining, only invigorating. It’s good stuff.

Gomez-Rejon does frame the movie in a way that is seemingly meant to compliment that energy, refusing to capture much of the movie in a more straightforward manner, carrying it instead through a number of close-in wides and off-balance perspectives that both offer intimacy and a heightened sense of attuned visual awareness. Large musical beats are in frequent accompaniment, too, bringing additional dramatic depth to the experience. But the movie is carried by its actors. Cumberbatch is particularly wonderful as Edison. His laser focus is matched only by his pride in his work and love for his family. When tragedy strikes, his life finally hits pause, captured brilliantly in a simple scene in which he repeatedly listens to a very personal recording only recently captured on one of his inventions, the phonograph. But as he lives and works within the shadow of death, he eventually sets aside his personal barriers -- he previously refused to make weapons of war or anything that could be used to harm another human being -- and allows his current to be used as the key component in the electric chair. The film is supported by two excellent performances from the venerable Michael Shannon as the more reasonable, but no less determined, Westinghouse, and Nicholas Hoult as Futurist Nikola Tesla whose genius is caught in the middle of the competing current salesmen.

The Current War Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Current War's 1080p Blu-ray presentation serves the material nicely. There are no problems areas of which to speak, save for naturally occurring noise in lower light shots, of which there are many. Conversely, there are not many instances of noise presented at extreme, bothersome levels. The picture is quite good in the aggregate, boasting quality detailing that allows viewers to explore high yield facial textures in abundance during close-up shots. Likewise, viewers will note resplendent detail on period clothes and the vast number of textures seen throughout the film within, throughout, and across the numerous era-specific location elements, workshops, factory floors, offices, train interiors, homes, and the like. Colors are fine, which include warm glowing lightbulbs, most prominently and apropos to the story, but also attire and accents across the same environments listed above. The movie is a bit dark in total, never really offering anything that just leaps out of the screen in terms of color reproduction, but the presentation is just fine within Gomez-Rejon and Cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung's vision for the film. Black levels are fine and skin tones never betray natural complexions within lighting parameters. This is a very good presentation from Universal.

The Current War Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Current War electrifies Blu-ray with a high energy DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The track proves dynamic from the outset, offering immersive, blustering winds followed by loud, intense train brakes squealing and grinding. Excellent spacial reverb may be heard in chapter four when Edison addresses a crowd outside the New York Stock Exchange. The track finds plenty of such lively and large sound elements, each challenging the configuration to expand as far as capable and the subwoofer to output low end goodness not so much in abundance but rather in balance. Music plays with impressive low end depth, spacial awareness, and lifelike clarity, with front dominance but also finely tuned surround integration. Dialogue is always presented with perfect clarity and prioritization from a natural center channel output area, save for those aforementioned moments of natural spacious reverb.

The Current War Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Current War includes deleted scenes and an audio commentary track. Interestingly, the menu screen composition makes it look like there were more extras planned to appear in the motion boxes on the right hand side (see screenshot 20). A DVD copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code are included with purchase. This release ships with a slipcover.

• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 5:25 total runtime): Included are I'd Love to Meet Him, Are You a Preacher?, and This Is Costing Us a Fortune.
• Audio Commentary: Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon delivers an extraordinarily well spoken track that covers far more than technical details. He earnestly and fully explores the movie's dramatic currents, so to speak, and how narrative structure and production details support the movie beyond its crude externalities. Those more basic "making of" elements are covered, too, and there's an excellent flow and feel of collective information that builds upon itself with each new insight. He is also blunt about what worked for audiences and what didn't and how the movie evolved over time. Fans of the film will love this track.

The Current War Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Current War is a fine film elevated by a gripping story, relentless momentum, a good score, and several top-rate performances from a few of the best actors working today. Universal's Blu-ray earns high marks for video and audio content delivery and while the supplements are slim the included commentary track is excellent. Highly recommended.