Review - Civil War
Directed by: Alex Garland
Written by: Alex Garland
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Nick Offerman
Running Time: 109 minutes
Rating: 4/5
How do you want the story to end? What choices do you want to make?
It’s a thought that is sure to persist in the audience’s mind after they watch A24’s latest release.
The 2024 dystopian action film, written and directed by British native Alex Garland, is an exploration of a parallel United States where a second civil war is tearing the country apart. It’s left to intrepid journalists to chronicle the story being told at the center of the movie. Lee (Kirsten Dunst) and Joel (Wagner Moura) are headed to the epicenter, Washington D.C., in hopes of interviewing the now third-term President of the United States. Along the way, they pick up Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) whose extensive experience and naive youth, respectively, round out the crew, witness to the collapse of their country on the road trip to their final destination.
Garland centers the story in the US, a country where the tension has been building up toward an explosion for a while, as can be gleaned by anyone with a television set or a working internet connection. Lets be clear. There are universalities in the political polarism that's being felt worldwide, of course. It’s not just Americans that feel the peace in their countries being held together by a string. But I’d imagine that in centering it in the American experience, many with strong political opinions will find the movie a little toothless in terms of laying any blame or responsibility on any specific party. Much of the marketing material is green, a military color, sure, but also an avoidance of Republican red or Democrat blue. In Garland’s defense, the political blame game is not the story he’s seeking to tell here. Instead it’s about story-telling, it’s about the appearance of truth and about the choices we make. To its benefit, the film is fast-paced, and the script is tight, perhaps even a little too simplistic. A kinder way to describe it would be efficient, as it does its job well.
The acting is strong overall, with most of the focus being on Kirsten Dunst as the grizzled photojournalist Lee Smith (a big 12 months for photojournalists named Lee) and Cailee Spaeny as the naive but passionate Jessie (Spaeny should be noted is on a bit of a meteoric rise). Their dynamic starts in a familiar place, gets a little more interesting as Dunst adds more depth and dimensionality to the embittered Smith.
Of note is Wagner Moura as Joel, a journalist and Lee’s partner-in-crime. Moura, whose last big splashy role was in Netflix’s Narcos as drug crime lord Pablo Escobar, is much transformed here. Joel looks great and seemingly feels comfortable and at ease with the country’s stability collapsing around him. But in the moments we’re allowed to glimpse behind the wall, Moura is magnificent. The brief flashes of pain feel more poignant by how cool he is able to play it for the rest of the film.
Great acting aside, the biggest challenge for people wanting to follow the movie is that it's enhanced by an understanding of US Politics (a presidential third term), US Geography (a California/Texas alliance? A Charlottesville frontline?) or the work of journalists. But even without that depth of knowledge, the film invites viewers into the world of journalism and truth-telling in a world where alternative facts, fake news, and confirmation bias are terms we’re all hearing more and becoming more comfortable with.
How do you want your story to end? Civil War is inviting you to look around at your country, at your politics, and imagine what can come next. As we cement ourselves in our tribes, we are being invited to interrogate whether or not we’re willing to risk it all for our beliefs. There’s a certain amount of grace and beauty being represented in going out, fighting for what you believe, but there’s also a numbness and nihilism from trying to exist, to be alive in a world of death.
For much of the western world, war is a distant concept. Civil War has fun and finds meaning in turning the camera around and aiming it center stage.
