Writer/Director Alex Garland (the Beach, 1995, Ex Machina, 2014) has brought Civil War to the screen. This odd, slow and at times pretentious film is part political warning, part gore fest, but falls clearly on the side of bloody war movie, with some rather cringe-worthy scenes to remain in our memories.
It also contains some real head scratchers. Such as in the beginning of the film, we learn that as part of several renegade regions of the USA that have launched a war against a tyrannical Federal government, California and Texas have joined in a "Western Alliance" to fight Washington D.C. Such politically and culturally different states joining in any way is so Laugh-out-Loud ludicrous that laughing is what happened throughout the theater when the set-up was announced.
The story is told from the perspective of three journalists, and a young aspiring one. Kirsten Dunst is Lee, a veteran photojournalist, who meets up with Joel (Wagner Maura) who has agreed, without her knowledge) to let a younger aspiring photographer, Jessie (Cailee Spaeney) tag along with them as they head from Pennsylvania to the war-torn Capitol in Washington to interview the president, whom Lee states likely has less than two months to survive, with the government falling soon after to armies of the Western Forces, it's implied.
The small group is rounded out by an elder journalist, Sammy, (Stephen McKinley Henderson) whose character chimes in occasionally, but otherwise isn't given much to do.
They make they're way southward, where they run into danger with two renegade soldiers, whose allegiance is unclear, who shoots two people they encounter on the empty highway, and one of the four is shot.
They follow Western Forces troops on the last leg of invading D.C., as they assault and invaded the White House. There, they find and kill the President, after he spits out some not-very-memorable final words for Joel.
The film's opening scene is this unnamed US president, played by Nick Offerman, struggling to prepare for a speech that will reassure a war-weary nation that victory is near, which for the central government, is clearly not the case. And everyone but him seems to know this. This is a painful reminder, to me, anyway, that we've had several presidents now who could not string words together coherently.
The film is bleak, and is meant to be, from a suicide bombing in New York City near the beginning of the film, where Lee meets Jessie, to senseless random shootings by the roadside and mass graves. Fuel shortages, hyperinflation, mass power outages are scattered thru the film, as background details to illustrate a failing nation.
Is this a prophesy of future turmoil? One hopes not. It's unclear if its meant to signal a Left-leaning or Right-leaning war, but in this election year, both sides are likely to use it as a warning, if the film is remembered at all.. It's doubtful it will be a box office success, but it has made back its $50 million budget, earning 90+ million since it opened April 12. It has a 71% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and 81% critics score going for it.
If nothing else, the film is a warning to politicians and media pundits to tame their extreme, inflammatory rhetoric, which this year has run from "the end of democracy" or "the end of America " if Trump or Biden win the White House. But the film doesn't betray a political bias either way.
