The Current War

The Current War (2018) is Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's period drama about the race to electrify America, and you can watch it online on iFILM. In the closing years of the 19th century, two brilliant men fight to decide whose system will light up the country — and neither plans to lose.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays Thomas Edison, betting everything on direct current and his fame as the people's inventor. Michael Shannon is industrialist George Westinghouse, backing alternating current because it's cheaper and reaches farther. What starts as an engineering argument curdles into a dirty public war of press smears, patent suits and city-by-city deals. Caught between them is Serbian visionary Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult), whose ideas outpace both rivals. Tom Holland and Katherine Waterston fill out the supporting cast.

The film is rich with the texture of the era — gaslit streets, the first glowing filaments, blueprints and factory floors. Under the handsome costume drama sits a thornier question about the cost of progress and who gets remembered for it. It's for viewers who like a sharp clash of egos and a stacked British ensemble. Stream The Current War (2018) online on iFILM.