Movie Review: Civil War (2024)

Genre: War Drama  

Director: Alex Garland  

Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jesse Plemons  

Running Time: 109 minutes  

Synopsis: The United States is in the grips of a civil war, with the Western Forces of California and Texas rebelling against a three-term President (Nick Offerman) and advancing on Washington DC. Veteran war photographer Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst) and reporter Joel (Wagner Moura) embark on a hazardous trip from New York to the capital, intending to interview the President. They reluctantly agree to give a ride to elderly journalist Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and young upstart photographer Jessie (Cailee Spaeny). Their trip will expose them to the horrors of a country tearing itself apart.

What Works Well: Writer and director Alex Garland transposes carnage associated with failed states into the heart of a democratic superpower, and allows four members of the press to witness the consequent disintegration. The visuals are violent and jarring, often accompanied by innovatively nihilistic music, or just silence. Kirsten Dunst as the seen-in-all-before photographer masks sorrow with a caustic attitude, and the final 30 minutes feature an exhilarating assault on what was once the seat of global power.

What Does Not Work As Well: The war's politics, causes and strategies are kept intentionally vague, leaving just the ground-eye-view as context. Lee, Joel, Sammy and Jessie are therefore asked to carry the dramatic weight, but they are at best sketched-in characters, heavily reliant on stereotype definitions.  

Key Quote:

Lee: Every time I survived a war zone, I thought I was sending a warning home - "Don't do this". But here we are.



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