“Civil War” Review
Kirsten Dunst plays a war photographer caught in the most intense fighting of a second American civil war in “Civil War”, the latest film from writer/director Alex Garland made with independent studio A24.
I am just a drop in the massive wave of filmmakers, film critics and cinephiles who have heaped much praise on the distribution/production company A24. But how can I not? With lower budgets, original stories and a respect for filmmakers and the general audience, A24 has become a beloved brand in entertainment that continues to push boundaries with its ever-expanding library of series and films, often resulting in critical and commercial acclaim. The latest film from the studio, Alex Garland’s “Civil War”, also marks a big gamble because, with a budget of $50 million, “Civil War” is the most expensive film from A24 and among its most ambitious. How will A24 fare when it makes the venture into big-budget action filmmaking? The answer is that “Civil War” is a fantastic film that combines massive spectacle with a strong sense of character, accomplishing what other studios fail to achieve with a much smaller budget and much larger intellect.
In the not-to-distant-future, The United States of America is now engulfed in a massive second Civil War. 19 states have seceded from the union with The Florida Alliance (composed of most of the southern states), The New People’s Army (made of the northeastern states) and the Western Forces of Texas and California all fighting to overthrow the President (Nick Offerman) and his presumed tyrannical rule. With Washington D.C. just days away from falling, wartime photographer Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst), reporter Joel (Wagner Moura), their mentor Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and an aspiring photographer named Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) make their way from New York City to the nation’s capital for one last chance at a presidential interview. Along the way, they encounter the most horrific sights that could realistically come with a war fought on American soil.
I’m sure that some who watch this film will feel dissatisfaction with how vague the backstory is for this conflict. Why did the states secede? What political party does the President belong to? Who are the good guys and who are the bad? These questions are never answered and that’s for the best. It doesn’t matter because when those questions are answered, a good chunk of people who are going to watch the film will be instantly turned off. If this president was an allegory for the Trump administration, the film would be blasted as “woke propaganda” and I’m sure that there would be a similar response from the other side of the aisle if Biden’s presidency was being targeted. All that we know about Offerman’s President is that he is in his third term (so it’s assumed that the 22nd Amendment has been repealed), he has dismantled the FBI and has authorized the use of airstrikes on American citizens during the war. That’s all we know. To focus on these details is missing the point of what the film is saying. It’s a cautionary tale about the ultimate consequence of a nation so polarized that its citizens are willing to kill each other.
The decision of writer/director Alex Garland to have his characters be journalists was incredibly smart because they all provide a sense of objectivity to these events. They take no sides and serve to report and document these horrific events. Even the backgrounds of these characters show that this film is not interested in favoring one faction over the other with Lee hailing from Colorado (a New People’s Army state), Joel from Florida (of the namesake Florida Alliance) and Jessie and Sammy coming from loyalist states.
These four performances are outstanding and bring some sense to the chaos that this war has brought. Kirsten Dunst is remarkable as Lee because, even though she’s spent years photographing the horrors of war overseas, the fact that America has descended into this carnage is breaking Lee’s confidence in the power of journalism. The tough exterior Lee has developed begins to crack over the course of this trip and Dunst delivers a performance that is reserved but layered. When Lee confides to Sammy her crisis of faith, she delivers it with a matter-of-fact tone but you know that she’s breaking up inside.
Wagner Moura is also compelling as a journalist who is set on interviewing the president. However, he also is trying to keep his colleagues safe and maintain some control over the situation. So, when he can’t keep people safe, it takes a toll on him. Stephen McKinley Henderson also brings wisdom to the crew, having more experience than the rest of his coworker and being a strong mentor to Joel and Lee in their early careers. Along with newcomer Jessie, the characters feel like a makeshift American family on a road trip with an uncertain future.
Cailee Spaeny’s (Left) incredible performance as a young journalist thrust into the horrors of war is a perfect foil to her more experienced colleagues like Joel (Wagner Moura).
Out of all of these incredible actors, I was most impressed by Cailee Spaeny. After a powerhouse lead performance in “Priscilla”, this character showcases a massive range from Spaeny who has to start off the film as a novice to the intense violence and must slowly become a hardened journalist. She has enthusiasm for what she does and idolizes Lee and her work but when she sees some terrifying imagery for the first time, it completely devastates her and she must make the call if this is what she wants to do with her life.
Alex Garland takes complete advantage of the scenario he’s crafted and makes a world that feels distant enough to qualify as dystopia but also has the underlying current that this could really happen if we let our savage nature get the better of us. “Civil War” does what good dystopian science fiction is supposed to do, offer a glimpse into a possible future and show what we must not become. Much like “Oppenheimer”, this is a horror film with nothing supernatural with the biggest monsters being ourselves.
Capturing the numerous atrocities are the film’s journalist protagonists and the way they position themselves in the conflict is fascinating to watch. Like most of you, I have no idea what it’s like to be a journalist working in the middle of a warzone and seeing these people crouched alongside soldiers as they do their job is incredible. The moments of violence are nerve-wracking with the gunshot sound effects feeling so real in comparison to more over-blown action films. There are so many sequences of action and suspense that had me on the edge of my seat with one standout scene involving a chilling performance from an uncredited Jesse Plemons that was featured in the film’s trailer. The nonchalance that some of these people can have with war crimes is an unsettling reminder of what we’re capable of.
More than anything, I was compelled by how the film addresses the ethics of being a wartime journalist and how these people must remove themselves emotionally from the story in order to be effective at what they do. It’s a hard line to walk and the blunt dialogue Lee uses to explain this principle to Jessie is expertly written and acted.
“Civil War” has plenty of scenes that will push you and force you into the stress and carnage of a firefight but the film is also broken up by moments of levity. All four of the film’s main characters have great chemistry with each other and their conversations are full of humor and natural camaraderie. However, even these scenes have suspense laced throughout because these moments of jokes and conversation can come crashing down at any minute.
By the time the film reaches the climactic battle in Washington D.C., I was completely entranced by this massive display of action and by the terrifying image of seeing these iconic landmarks of America become battlegrounds. “Civil War” is one of those films that is worth seeing in theaters, especially in IMAX where you can feel the magnitude of this conflict. For the entire film, Alex Garland crafts a marvelous blend of action, drama and terror that appeals to both the A24 crowd as well as more main-stream moviegoers. As A24’s most expensive film, “Civil War” has paid off and I sincerely hope that it does well at the box office. It’s a powerful look at what might be and how we must use all of our effort to avoid this terrible future.
