kirsten dunst

Deliberately pushing all your ‘fear’ buttons, Alex Garland’s Civil War is obviously intended to be a cautionary tale but it falls short in so many ways. The dystopian story begins sometime in the near-immediate future in war-torn New York City, where water is rationed and residents are battling the police. Several military-embedded journalists are preparing to undertake the precarious drive to Washington, D.C. hoping to interview the divisive President, who has disbanded the FBI and ordered air strikes on civilians.

Filmmaker Alex Garland’s fourth directorial feature hits harder than most war films. Civil War is a painfully realistic portrayal of a journey across dystopian future America driven by haunting characters, graphic visuals and heart-pounding sound effects. The film focuses on a team of four journalists following the Second American Civil War. Caught between the American government and “Western Forces”, they set out on a suicide mission through a surge of war crimes to reach the president before rebel coalitions strike the White House.

Civil War warns but doesn’t inform. Writer/director Alex Garland’s new film Civil War is just that, about a U.S. civil war. Don’t look for any issues beyond learning that California and Texas, yes, those two alone and together, have. As a dystopian reality terrorizes the country, four journalists undertake a road trip from New York to Charlottesville, Virginia, front lines of the rebellion.

What’s in a name? In the case of writer/director Alex Garland’s Civil War, it might mean the difference between the success of a worthy film and a stumble at the box office. He’s not trying to make a stand about what’s happening in America. He’s not trying to be subjective in that way. Civil War is more about the impact of combat journalists committed to uncovering the raw truth of war; that it is brutal and senseless. Folks walking into the theater hungry for him to take a political stand about the potential dangers of polarization currently happening in the US will not be sated. If, however, they are looking for a powerful cinematic experience that shakes them to their foundations, that they’ll get. Not exactly an enjoyable experience, Civil War is a near-constant assault to the senses that amps up the tension moment by moment to the film’s last frames that will become essential viewing in anyone’s list of great war movies.