The marketing for Civil War has been so confusing to me. The trailer shows an alternate present-day Civil War happening here in the US, so I was already annoyed. I didn’t care to see a movie divide audiences more than Hollywood already cares to do. I was sure that, no matter what, audiences would be relegated to one side or the other, politically and critically. Or, being more likely, audiences would skip the movie altogether to avoid political diatribes from either side. This being an election year, we are constantly being reminded by people who don’t know us, that our differences should divide us.
Soapbox? Okay, let me get off of that thing real quick.
So, other than seeing marketing for a potentially preachy movie, I then noticed the names of the director and the studio. Director Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Men, Annihilation) is no stranger to divisive movies that incite love/hate/confusion. Add to that, A24 (the land of the off-kilter indie flick) has produced this film. So, immediately that subverts any thought that we’d get a normal war movie.
However, the elements within Civil War are very simple and potentially relevant to everyone. This is accomplished by having the story take place near the end of the war and specifically from the perspectives of photojournalists. Kirsten Dunst plays Lee Miller, a veteran photographer who’s captured mankind at their most heinous in war-torn countries. Lee and Joel (Wagner Moura) apathetically travel through the eastern states as they venture towards the frontline of the battle, Washington DC. While on this calamitous road trip, they pick up a veteran reporter/editor Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and a very naive aspiring photojournalist in Jessie (Cailee Spaeny).
The reason this movie’s narrative works so well is that we follow these characters, who act as a sort of family, but their jobs are not to take sides. Instead they seek only the most impactful picture or quote. These characters can follow either side of the battle without establishing where they stand in the conflict.
Okay, now lets talk about how this is a very grounded horror movie. We’ve all seen so many post-apocalyptic movies that show desolate wastelands, but Civil War depicts an American journey where you have to be wary of every gas station, an approaching vehicle on an empty road, and even seemingly picturesque towns.
I pride myself on having nerves of steel when it comes to standard jump scare horror flicks. I typically don’t jump. However, this movie got me twice by the impact of bullets. Kudos to the sound design team who had me on edge, even in the movie’s quieter moments. I was tense throughout the movie with the expectation of sudden brutality.
Kirsten Dunst’s performance happens largely through her eyes. Lee is a character who has seen it all and has become completely desensitized to violence. But her eyes show us the fear, danger and sometimes guilt she has within. Cailee Spaeny is meant to be our anchor point in the story as she is new to the horrors of war, but often acts before thinking. She really shines in this role.
True to form, Jesse Plemons gets the cameo award. Any movie he shows up in, even if it’s for five minutes, gets raised a half letter grade based on his performance alone. This is proven once again in Civil War.
As for the negative side, the movie is dramatically thin. The characters state where they want to go, and why they want to go there, but it’s not really developed more than that. We’re not given emotional reasons as to why we should care about them putting their own lives in danger. Because they’re photojournalists, they are able to skim over the details of it all, but that leaves us with a very simple view of who they are and why it matters in the scheme of things.
The questions I and everyone else have asked are: How did the war start? Is it overly political? In what world do Texas and California unite? Those are all valid questions, but are thankfully unanswered here. The truth is, it doesn’t matter, nor should it.
Civil War gives us an unflinching cautionary tale of a nation in violent turmoil. I do wish we got more than a bird eye’s view of our characters, but it also cleverly uses our character’s jobs to gives the audience a documentary type feel to the action within this world. I feel I may only see this once, as the experience is heavy, but the experience is one I can appreciate. B
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