CIVIL WAR (2024) - Movie Review

Director: Alex Garland
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Nick Offerman, Jesse Plemons
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller, War
Writer: Alex Garland
Runtime: 109 min
Rated: R for strong violent content, bloody/disturbing images, and language throughout
Buy This Movie: Blu-ray + DVD (Amazon), 4K Ultra HD (Amazon), Apple TV

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Synopsis:

From filmmaker Alex Garland comes a journey across a dystopian future America, following a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach DC before rebel factions descend upon the White House.

Review:

Alex Garland's "Civil War" is probably the most polarizing movie of 2024, so far, because everyone expected it to reflect the United States' current divisive political landscape. Then it became polarizing because it didn't do that. Despite the fascinating choice of using the US as the setting for the titular military conflict, the movie is not really about the civil war itself. Drawing inspiration from Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", Garland is more interested in exploring the breakdown of society, moral decay, and the darker corners of humanity. In that regard, it's not dissimilar from ideas Garland previously explored in Danny Boyle's zombie classic "28 Days Later".

The gist of it is that Texas and California, have seceded from the United Stated and declared war. The reasons are not explained, but we do get a few hints that the US president was up to no good and most likely turned dictator, or was regarded as such. It must have been something truly horrible to get two states with polar opposite politics to work together. The story takes place near the end of the conflict, as a group of journalists make their way towards Washington D.C. to get a big juicy scoop before it falls to the rebels.

The civil war itself is viewed from an impartial, third-party perspective, so we are never offered easy answers as to who is right and who is wrong. All we see is the madness of war, with summary executions and horrible waste of life at every corner. There is a lot of haunting imagery, and the violence is sudden and disturbing. It's perhaps a bit weird seeing war from such a disconnected point of view, but it does make sense if you believe there is no right side in war, and that there is no such thing as a just war. The movie never gets too deep into politics or world-building, and the lack of specific details may disappoint some. It didn't really bother me, because the movie is not about politics. It's about humans, or dehumanization, to be more exact.

If you're thinking of seeing this in the hopes of watching battle scenes worthy of a "Call of Duty" game, you will walk away severely disappointed. The movie saves a big set piece for the third act, while the rest of the film is mostly just tense encounters and brief sparks of action. Yes, action fans will be left wanting, but I will say that the brief adrenaline-pumping moments we do get find Garland at the top of his game. And he's fantastic at building up tension. All of it looks great, even more impressive considering its relatively modest $50 million budget. The cinematography, in particular, is gorgeous, capturing both the beauty and the ugliness of war-torn America. Immersive and richly detailed, it's probably the best-looking film of 2024, and I wouldn't be surprised if DP Rob Hardy ("Mission: Impossible - Fallout") gets some awards recognition next year.

The movie also boasts a strong cast and wonderfully layered characters. Kirsten Dunst plays Lee, a veteran war photographer who has seen it all, and has lost pieces of her soul with each conflict she's been involved in. She reluctantly takes on a young protege, Cailee Spaeny's Jessie, who is naive, but resourceful. An interesting dynamic builds between the two women and the other two journalists joining them on this ad hoc Washington road trip: the older and wiser Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson), and adrenaline junkie Joel (Wagner Moura). As the story progresses, and the four go through several disturbing encounters, Lee slowly begins to regain her humanity, while Jessie loses hers. It's really hard to pick favorites, because all four actors do amazing work here. Also, Jesse Plemons fans will get to enjoy yet another creepy performance from this incredibly versatile character actor in one of the film's most suspenseful scenes.

"Civil War" won't be everyone's cup of tea. In the end it's a matter of tastes and expectations, and you might get something entirely different from it. That's the power of art. For me, Watching this a long time after the controversy around the movie had died down helped me understand and thoroughly enjoy Garland's vision for this dystopian world, which unfortunately might just be closer to our reality than we'd like to admit.

SCORE: 9/10