Civil War, 2024.
Written and Directed by Alex Garland.
Starring Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Nick Offerman, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jefferson White, Nelson Lee, Evan Lai, Vince Pisani, Justin James Boykin, Jess Matney, Greg Hill, Edmund Donovan, Sonoya Mizuno, and Jesse Plemons.
SYNOPSIS:
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.
During a break in the chaos, aspiring war correspondent Jesse (Cailee Spaeny) asks her new acquaintance, the photojournalist she idolizes, Lee (Kirsten Dunst), to elaborate on the stories behind her famous work that inspired the young girl to enter the same journalistic field. “Elaborate” is also a word that consistently comes to mind when watching writer/director Alex Garland’s Civil War.
California and Texas have seceded from the United States of America to create a faction dubbed the “Western Forces” in opposition to a “fascist” fictional US president (Nick Offerman) who, inferring from the breadcrumb details that are dropped, is a dictator devaluing democracy. There is never a sense of why California and Texas joined forces or what sort of policies this fictional president is known for. Civil War isn’t a frustratingly vague film, though; it’s just a vague one under the impression it’s making a bold point about journalism and society with its less-is-more technique to world-building and characters when, in reality, it’s fairly transparent and vacuous.
Thankfully, this approach is at least backed by immersive and harrowing sound and visuals, transferring Alex Garland’s tone and mood as a science fiction filmmaker into his take on a man-made war-torn apocalypse. With constant camera shuttering (made more documentary-reminiscent through flashes of black and white still photography), Civil War has visual flair (and one stunning shot of a character crawling across a sea of dead bodies.).
Garland also wisely knows when to drown out the brooding score from Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury to drive home the effect of such violent horrors that contain everything from suicide bombers to racist soldiers (a monstrously evil scene-stealing Jesse Plemons.) There is also no shortage of fear in lingering on disturbing visuals as if we are those photographers doing the emotionless reporting. A third-act storm on a historical landmark is also as tense as an action sequence can be without having much investment in the characters at the center of the cause.
Therein lies the key problem, though. Civil War is wholly committed to taking no sociopolitical stance through its characters who choose to objectively perform this dangerous job for various reasons ranging from letting the people decide what to do with the information that gets reported through photography or pure adrenaline. Considering the group focused on here is comprised of characters superbly played by Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Wagner Moura, it is also disappointing that all the screenplay can think of to do with the diverse assembly of gender and race is a halfhearted juxtaposition about their respective ages.
The story too often feels like it’s working through generic cautionary tale clichés of following in the footsteps of one’s idol rather than saying anything noteworthy about these characters, their values, or journalism. It is a series of, again, admittedly intense action sequences that sometimes emerge through contrivances. However, Alex Garland continues to prove that he is sufficiently skilled when it comes to viscerally immersing viewers into a time and place, especially one that will surely hit close to home during an election year, that it sometimes is a serviceable distraction from the shortchanged aspects of this thin exercise.
Civil War is a defanged provocation regarding what role journalists should play in society and their responsibilities; it fails to make them interesting characters to such a degree that major climactic moments fail to elicit a reaction (perhaps the painfully obvious foreshadowing also has something to do with that.) The film is not without controversial, unsettling images, but it’s also safe where it matters most.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
Originally published April 10, 2024. Updated April 12, 2024.
