Review: Civil War

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Alex Garland's brutal and intense "Civil War" is a film that deserves praise for its accomplished filmmaking techniques, but left me a bit perplexed due to its lack of context or perspective. It's a well-made movie that wants to have it both ways by stoking the fire but hoping that the flames don't get out of control. 

The film is filled with footage of bloody carnage depicting Americans carrying out violent acts against one another over politics, but it doesn't explain how the fictional version of the nation got to this point and it provides little way in the way of commentary, which in our current moment feels like a missed opportunity.

That being said, there's still a fair amount to praise. It's well shot and the cast - which includes Kirsten Dunst as a seasoned photographer, Stephen McKinley Henderson as her mentor, Cailee Spaeny as a novice photographer, Wagner Moura as a thrill-seeking reporter, Jesse Plemons in a chilling turn as a murderous member of one side of the conflict, and Nick Offerman as an imperial president - is uniformly solid.

The film opens with a riot that turns deadly in New York City, where Dunst's Lee and Moura's Joel are planning a road trip to Washington D.C., where they hope to get an interview with Offerman's president before he's assassinated by an insurrectionist group comprised of the states of California and Texas - a plot element that could only exist in a movie and, in this case, one made by an Englishman - that is moving in on the capitol. Henderson's Sammy is a veteran New York Times reporter who tags along for the ride, while Spaeny's wide-eyed and occasionally callous aspiring photographer Jessie begs for Lee, one of her heroes, to let her come along as well.

It's honorable that the film wants to pay homage to journalists - and their adventures reminded me of old-school journalism thrillers set in war zones, such as "The Year of Living Dangerously" or "Salvador" - but it also ironically makes the mistake that so many print and broadcast journalism outlets have made in recent years: engaging in both sides-ism under the guise of being fair and balanced. 

The film does this by having no mentions of politics or religion - which I found to be an odd choice - but also giving each side traits that could be found in our modern political landscape. Offerman's president is Trumpian in that he has refused to leave office after his second term, while the insurrection looking to oust him is, well, you know. There's no mention of how the country got to this point.

So, while I was impressed by the film's technical feats - the sequence with Plemons' fascistic soldier is the film's most frightening, while the final raid on the White House is handled expertly - the film wants to have it both ways, most likely to sell the most tickets. 

It's an odd conundrum: On the one hand, while I can recommend the picture as a skillfully made dystopian thriller, I also found it odd that a film on this subject in the year 2024 would have no political opinion on the matter. And the few tidbits that are included - video footage from far-right influencer Andy Ngo and a reference to the "Antifa Massacre," which felt like a loaded expression - only further muddy the waters.

Garland previously wrote the screenplay for Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later," another fraught film about societal collapse that is among my favorite horror movies of the 21st century. That film left nothing wanting, whereas "Civil War," while effective as a genre film, feels incomplete. It's worth seeing, but all of the technical prowess on display felt a little like empty calories.