Civil War

CIVIL WAR (15)

D: Alex Garland

A24 / DNA / IPR VC (Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich & Gregory Goodman)

UK/US 🇬🇧🇺🇸 2024

109 mins

Drama/Action/Thriller

W: Alex Garland

DP: Rob Hardy

Ed: Jake Roberts

Mus: Ben Salisbury & Geoff Barrow

Kirsten Dunst (Lee Smith), Wagner Moura (Joel), Cailee Spaeny (Jessie Cullen), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Sammy), Nick Offerman (President of the United States)

Set in a dystopian near-future where the United States of America has been divided by a civil war where a rebellion from California & Texas have split from the rest of the country and are close to taking Washington DC.

All the events are witnessed by photo journalists Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst) and her colleague, Joel, who survive a bomb attack in New York City and decide to travel to the nation’s capital to document its fall.  They are joined by their wily & wise mentor, Sammy, as well as a young, aspiring photographer, Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), although this is very much against Lee’s wishes.

Nevertheless, Lee takes the young girl under her wing, guiding her via the mindset that if she wants to be successful in the profession, she must become desensitised to violence and the horrors that they are bound to see.

The film does utilise some graphic images of war, some of which will burn themselves into your memory long after the end credits have rolled, as well as several tense scenes where society has fallen apart and it’s every man for themselves, and ultranationalist soldiers taking law and justice into their own hands.

The politics writer-director Alex Garland had in mind are hinted at, but is mostly kept neutral for the audience to make up its own mind, and whilst this is incredibly well made on a technical level, especially with its sound design, editing and cinematography, but the final act and ending does feel you leaving a little empty inside, even though it’s understood what Garland is trying to say.  Kirsten Dunst and Wagner Moria’s characters also seem intentionally underwritten, as though they are vessel characters to take the audience along on the journey with the small group. Stephen McKinley Henderson could have been the film’s conscience, but instead he’s merely the sacrificial lamb character, and the only character who is given a satisfying arc is Cailee Spaeny’s role, and whilst Spaeny delivers an excellent performance, the transformation of this character is rushed over, resulting in the ending feeling quite unearned.

It’s another movie where you can admire the filmmaking process involved and lose yourself in the atmosphere, but the execution of the story and characters still keep you at arms length.

6/10