Director: Alex Garland
Actors: Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaney, Stephen McKinley Henderson
Genre: War / Drama
Rating: MA
‘Civil War’ is a “what if” scenario of a in-the-near-future of where the
USA could be headed if their divisive politics continue as they have over the
past decade. It starts off with the president (Offerman) practising a speech
and sets up what we assume is going to be a “the people vs Trump” allegory. But
then we get introduced to war photographer Lee (Dunst) and semi-protégée Jessie
(Spaney) at a rally that turns violent.
We then follow a road trip of Lee, Lee’s journalist partner Joel (Moura),
their older colleague Sammy (McKinley Henderson) as they show Jessie the ropes
of capturing the action while trying not to get hurt or effected by it, as they
travel from New York to Washington DC past some sporadic battles. Intentionally,
rather than full-on action and violence, there’s lots of introspective moments
and quietness, interspersed with their view of a firefight. The four main
actors are all good, with Dunst not actually having many lines. Good cameos
from Nelson Lee and Jesse Plemons.
We don’t see any footage of the president again or the leaders of the “Western
Front”, and no backstory is given for why/how this 21st-century
civil war was started. While I appreciate that’s a different angle taken on
purpose, it does leave the whole film feeling a bit pointless, as we’re left to
fill in lots of blanks and the plot leans on the generic “war is bad”. There’s
some good moments, especially the last 20min of action, but you’re probably
better off watching the ‘The Patriot’ do justice to the actual 19th-centiry
civil war.
Overall: Interesting concept, not fully realised
Gav's Rating: 3 stars
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