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There was one, but it largely played festivals.
(Harvey is now uncredited.)
I dont know exactly how much was altered, but it did seem trimmer and easier to follow.
I liked it a little more, but my response is much the same.
That said, Ive slightly rewritten the review, polishing some lines and expanding a point or two.
On the whole, though, this is my preferred cut.
That would have helped here it would have made the AC vs. DC fight less abstract.
Instead, the director, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, has created visual interest by shooting the movie from a rowboat.
Not literally, but thats how it feels.
Then, it tips to the right to show who hes talking to.
Then, it jumps back to Edison, a little lower in the frame, sinking, bobbing.
Is Gomez-Rejon trying to simulate an alternating current?
Is he trying to evoke the inner life of the man said to have engineered his own reality?
Or does he just like playing with his camera?
The movie does look gorgeous.
Given all the CGI it has surprising texture.
The chiaroscuro frames are full of whirling gizmos, along with men in heavy dark coats and mutton chops.
(This must have been the itchiest era in which to be a wealthy American.)
Thats admirable, because he never reduces Edison to a biopic cliche.
Its also frustrating, because the directors romantic, gee-whiz style leads you to expect more dramatic clarity.
(Form, meet content.
Content, meet form.)
Westinghouse is actually the movies good guy.
Why wont Edison give AC a chance?
Maybe only because he didnt think of it first.
He loves his wife (Tuppence Middleton) and kids fiercely.
Hes played by the star, Cumberbatch, whose alien-sea-reptile visage has moved the boundary posts of handsome.
Hes a little opaque.
Hes a businessman, not a visionary.
The Current War: The Directors Cutis visually lucid but thematically scattershot.
