CIVIL WAR (2024)
Alex Garland's Vision of a Nation Divided by...What?
Grade: B-
Alex Garland’s Civil War works much better as an intense thriller than as a timely cautionary tale. It is incredibly well-made, with solid performances, shocking violence, and a horrifying central premise. But the lack of an explanation for said premise keeps it from becoming a much deeper and more profound experience.
The film is set in a near future where the United States has once again become a divided nation. Dialogue reveals that California and Texas have seceded and become the “Western Forces,” and Florida has split apart as well. Alaska has apparently become neutral territory, and the rest of the nation is engulfed in tension and chaos. The film follows three journalists: Lee (Kirsten Dunst), Joel (Wagner Moura), and Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson), who are seen early on covering a riot in New York City.
As police try to suppress protestors, the three encounter a young aspiring photojournalist named Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) and barely survive a terrorist bombing. With the Western Forces preparing to invade Washington, the journalists hope to get to the White House and interview the President (Nick Offerman) before it happens. Jessie tags along, and they make their journey south, encountering many horrors along the way.
The America presented by Garland is a terrifying one, though the fear it invokes is somewhat less than what is presented on the news every day. Oftentimes, it skirts around the chaos instead of facing it head-on. But the moments of violence are never anything less than shocking, and sometimes even horrific. At night, the journalists watch from afar as two opposing sides exchange gunfire. They join the conflict the next morning and are caught up in a brutal battle. Later, during the film’s climax, the Western Forces finally invade Washington, mercilessly gunning down everyone in their path. With these sequences, Garland proves himself to be an effective director of action.
The most intense scene comes when the protagonists are confronting a group of homicidal soldiers who are holding two of their friends hostage. One of the soldiers, played by Jesse Plemens, is completely emotionless as he asks the journalists about their origins. The entire standoff is filled with suspense that explodes into horror, and the reactions of the characters will likely be reflected in the audience.
But there is a crucial missing ingredient which ultimately dampens the experience: context. Why did California and Texas secede? What does the President want? What were the people in that one gun battle fighting for? What is the endgame of the Western Forces? Who were those people gathered in that football stadium, and why were they there? None of these questions is given a cohesive answer. There are a few clues given early on, as it suggested that this President’s policies make him one of the least effective and reliable leaders in the Nation’s history (the President's final line in the film is also humorously and darkly ironic). But these only hint at an intriguing backstory that is never followed through on.
Perhaps it was only inevitable that Garland should avoid a direct explanation for the conflict. To say the President believes this or California and Texas hate that would alienate any audience members who believe in such things, and it would also automatically make the movie dated. But this reviewer kept wondering “Why” and “How” throughout the movie, and an explanation could have potentially raised the stakes even more. Audiences who prefer ambiguity in stories like this will have little to complain about here, but those who don’t will leave disappointed. Yet all are sure to be be unsettled by what they see.
Director: Alex Garland
Writer: Alex Garland
Producers: Gregory Goodman, Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich
Cast: Kirsten Dunst (Lee), Wagner Moura (Joel), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Sammy), Cailee Spaeny (Jessie), Sonoya Minuzo (Anya), Jefferson White (Dave), Nelson Lee (Tony), Evan Lai (Bohai) Jesse Plemens (Militant), Nick Offerman (President)
Rated: R (for strong violent content, bloody/disturbing images, and language throughout)
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