What a sadness to see a 'superhero' in 'Battle of Electricity'

Alexzander 2022-03-06 08:01:20

As a fan of American comics, there has not been a superhero movie released for more than half a year. Instead, after the news of the death of Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman from colon cancer, "Black Panther 2" will not be released until next year. The start of filming means that the important branches of the new phase of the Marvel Universe have to be re-planned due to the death of Chadwick, and the new generation of Avengers may not be able to reproduce the glory of the Iron Man era.

Just when we were waiting for "Black Widow" and keeping an eye on Zack Snyder's version of "Justice League", there was an alternative "superhero" movie that came into everyone's attention. The War of Electricity starring Nong and Holt.

Of course, this biographical film about the entanglement between Edison and Westhouse, set against the background of the development of direct current and alternating current, is a far cry from a superhero movie. But if you look closely, you will find that the four leading actors of this film have all participated in superhero movies. Brother Holland is now the first brother of Marvel's new generation, and currently plays the role of Spider-Man; Curly Fu is one of the leaders of the new Avengers and plays Doctor Strange; Shannon has joined another comic book camp, the opponent of Superman in DC General Zod; Holt played "Beast Blue Fur" in the X-Men.

No wonder netizens say that this is a movie that is easy to make people "play" . But this made the author fall into thinking, I wonder if you have noticed that in recent years, it seems that more and more Hollywood stars have joined the superhero movie camp, which made the author fall into a loss, why do you say this? And see the breakdown below.

1. Hollywood's "Super-Britishness"

By consulting relevant information, we can draw an astonishing conclusion: if you use the salary to divide, and divide the current Hollywood stars with a salary of more than 25 million US dollars into the super-first-tier, you will find that only 4 super-first-tier stars do not. Participated in superhero movies, they are: Sandra Bullock, Johnny Depp, Tom Cruise and Denzel Washington.

The rest of the Hollywood stars have either joined Marvel or been in DC. Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, though not starring in it, both have cameo appearances in such films. In "Deadpool 2", Brad Pitt cameo as the invisible man who was electrocuted to death while skydiving.

Matt Damon made a cameo appearance in Thor 3. In the first part of the film, the actor who played Loki in the theater in Asgard.

Although some super-British movies with super-first-line actors have not yet met the audience, they are also on their way. For example, Angelina Jolie's "The Eternals" and Dwayne Johnson's "Black Adam" will both be released in 2021.

Almost all superstars are packaged in comic-reformed movies, which seems to be a laudable event for a whole generation of young people influenced by superheroes, but it is not a good thing for the entire film industry: increasingly solidified capital will The resources of these stars are gradually being collected, from filmmakers such as Marvel and Warner’s DC begging first-line stars to participate in the first-line stars to actively participate in these comic films in order to maintain their actor career and popularity. The rules of the industry seem to be moving towards developing in the direction of centralization.

Can a good art film still attract these stars? When "Black Panther" can garner seven Oscar nominations and the comic book movie can easily sweep the global box office, does Hollywood still have room for art films?

As movie fans, we may not know the connotation of it, but we can more and more understand the refutation of Marvel by Martin Scorsese and a group of Hollywood art film directors.

2. The dilemma behind "Battle of Electricity"

Looking at this "Battle of Electricity" in turn, I can only say that it wasted a great story subject by the capital engulfed by the superhero movie market.

What we mainly talked about above is the engulfment of the market from Hollywood movie stars to watch comics. In addition to this, the competition between the companies behind these movies is the focus.

The producer of "Battle of Electricity" is the Weinstein Film Production Company, which, like Universal's Focus Films, focuses on the art film market, and its founder Weinstein is Hollywood's golden producer. Mastering a large number of star resources, the films he participated in the production and distribution of more than 300 Oscar nominations, won more than 70 golden statuettes, and Weinstein is also an important figure in helping Chinese commercial films to move into the era of blockbusters. The copyrights of Hero and Promise, allowing them to be released in North America, are an important driver for Chinese films to enter the international commercial market.

However, in 2017, the Hollywood behind-the-scenes tycoon was exposed to a scandal. The New York Times published an article revealing that he was suspected of sexually harassing at least 8 women in the past few decades. Female stars have come forward to accuse Weinstein of crimes. The scandal directly triggered an earthquake in Hollywood. To some extent, the Mee Too action was also caused by Weinstein, and the Weinstein Films company behind him, which produced countless blockbusters, also officially declared bankruptcy in 2018.

It is worth mentioning that in the year of Weinstein's accident and before his company collapsed, Disney announced the acquisition of 20th Century Fox, which accounted for almost half of Hollywood's market share. The resources to help the stars were quickly taken away by Disney.

From a conspiracy-theoretical perspective, Weinstein, as a bigwig-level figure, has been in the film industry for more than 30 years. Why was his crime not disclosed before? On the contrary, in 2017, when Disney was preparing to acquire Fox, and Netflix and Amazon aggressively built streaming media platforms to acquire Hollywood film sources, the mystery behind it is estimated to be not so simple . By the way, the "Battle of Electricity" discussed today was also completed in 2017, but due to the above things, it was abruptly delayed until now.

Therefore, after filing for bankruptcy protection, the era of Hollywood copyright symbolized by Weinstein Films, the era when Weinstein was hailed as "the saviour of modern movies", seems to have fallen into quite the same embarrassment and desolation as the bankruptcy of this film company. situation. The Weinstein Company, which has always been betting very accurately, also overturned the car. Watching "Battle of Electricity", there is always a feeling of being overwhelmed and insufficient. The subject matter of the story is good, but I don't have the money to find someone who can make it well, and I don't have the energy to make such a movie well.

In the final result, the relationship between the characters was not clear, and the super first-line lineup of Cuan Fu + Dutch brother was wasted. It was originally a business conflict between Edison played by Cuan Fu and Westhouse played by Shannon. The content of the two protagonists should be full, and there should be a certain focus to highlight the different charms of the two, but "Electricity" The story of "The Battle" obviously cannot support the biographical narration of the two characters well in terms of length, and the content is also mediocre.

Edison's personal character made it impossible for Cuan Fu to save him with his superb acting skills. On the contrary, Westhouse, who was not familiar enough with the public, seemed to stand on the commanding heights of morality under Shannon's interpretation and was recognized by the audience . As for Edison's assistant played by Holland's brother, he is a soy sauce character that has no use at all. Tesla played by Holt could have written a lot, because Tesla in history is not only a recognized super genius, With a character that is different from ordinary people, he also served under Edison and Westhouse, respectively, and promoted the development of civilian electricity.

It is a pity that Tesla's story seems to be a simple transition point between Edison and Westhouse's struggle, and the powerful clues that this character can carry is so ignored, enough to see The script for this movie was written with no intention at all.

There are few other aspects worth talking about, and it is hard to imagine that this film is actually a work used by Weinstein to attack Austria. If the famous Weinstein is such a pursuit, then even if the Mee Too incident does not break out, its road has really come to an end .

However, for movie fans, good themes should not be wasted in vain, and the rules of traditional movies can still be raised proudly, which is the last hope for these blockbusters.

View more about The Current War: Director's Cut reviews

Extended Reading
  • Orland 2022-03-23 09:03:25

    "A true legacy isn't what we build up to the heavens or carve deep into stone. Rocks will crumble, paper disintegrates, and bone turns to powder. Only that which isn't in the physical realm and reaches in both directions can be eternal. Our ideas. They are what we leave behind. And only they are what can push us forward.”

  • Jasen 2022-03-26 09:01:13

    Genius always makes people love and hate. As a biopic, it does not hesitate to show the hypocrisy and despicability of the protagonist Edison, and in contrast, the rival Westinghouse is tolerant and upright. In terms of casting, it can be described as Marvel vs. DC. Unfortunately, the three images of Marvel are too deeply rooted in the hearts of the people to be substituted. Only Shannon hides himself and immerses himself in the role. This battle of electricity was chaotic and tedious, and the climax battle was still in the field where the protagonist did not care. This defeat was insignificant to him, and he did not grow from it. It was a flaw in the biography. However, the atmosphere of the masters in the whole film promoting technological progress and civilization development in the competition is still very exciting, and the electronic soundtrack in the retro film is also quite fresh.

The Current War: Director's Cut quotes

  • [first lines]

    Thomas Edison: To all whom it may concern, be it known that I, Thomas Alva Edison, submits on this, the 27th day of January, 1880, the application of this abstract to the Patent Office of the United States of America. The unique design of my invention is that of a glass vacuum tube which houses inside a thin cotton thread filament, the two lower ends of which secure respective posts, forming an arch shape. Details and schematic drawings follow exhibiting all aspects of the invention. But its purpose is simple, to give light.

  • George Westinghouse: It seems to me that Mr. Edison puts his name on everything because he's terrified of being forgotten. But if you want to be remembered, it's simple. Shoot a president. But if you prefer to have what I call a legacy, you leave the world a better place than you found it.