Journalists being "embedded", as it were, with combat troops in war is now very much a product of 21st century media, much as Hollywood filmmakers like John Ford and George Stevens had been in the frontlines of World War II. But what if journalists found themselves on the frontlines of a war being waged on their own soil? And what if the country in question were the United States of America? If such a premise seems utterly far-fetched, and Dystopian in ways that even George Orwell or Aldous Huxley hadn't counted upon in their time, simply because it hadn't been done before, then it was only a matter of time before somebody threw just such a premise was into our faces. This is what happens in CIVIL WAR, a very graphic and explicit look at the plausibility of a second Civil War happening on American soil, and how journalists, particularly photojournalists, would cover it without getting emotionally involved or taking sides. And the irony of it all is that it is a British writer/director, Alex Garland, who puts that premise to good use, perhaps as a comment on where America is careening towards in the third decade of the 21st century, and dangerously so.
Set in some unknown future, CIVIL WAR stars Kirsten Dunst as a hardened photojournalist covering the climax of a particularly brutal war of various forces out to overthrow a neo-fascistic dictatorial American president (Nick Offerman, of the HBO post-apocalypse series "The Last Of Us"). It is the intent, however suicidal it may seem, for her crew to get into Washington D. C. first before elements of either the Western Forces or the extremely odd pairing of militias from decidedly "progressive" California and very Right-leaning Texas have a chance to "finish the job", as it were, which means assassinating Offerman. But while preparing to leave New York City, which itself has come under siege, Dunst picks up, however unintentionally and unwanted (at first), a much younger photojournalist (Cailee Spaeny) who is an admirer of hers. Despite Spaeny's intrusion into their little "caravan", Dunst comes to admire the prodigy's stamina. She does, however, advise her not to ask too many questions about what she is about to witness, saying it is the job of the public to ask those questions. And because they can't do a straight 200-mile shot from New York to D. C., they take a long way around through the war-torn states of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, encountering what an actual civil war inside a 21st century America does to the people, whether they are involved directly or get sucked into the horror of it all, as Dunst, Spaeny, and company do. Garland doesn't give a "rooting" interest, as extremists on either side of the political divide might have wanted; and, despite the graphic language and extreme war violence, the film is all the better for it. So too is the eventual climax inside the White House, an ending that can best be described as chillingly and disturbingly ambiguous.
Garland, known for such films as 2015's EX MACHINA, and 2018's ANNIHILATION, takes a decidedly dispassionate look at war. He does not, however, stint on the horrors of war, even one as fictional as this one is, and, however upsetting such ultra-bloody scenes are, closely mirroring what we saw in FULL METAL JACKET and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, he forces us to confront the often senseless nature of war, and the senseless barbarity that often arises from it. And much like the characters in his film, Garland utterly refuses to take a side, which will certainly upset a few on the Left, and a whole hell of a lot more on the Right, who often like their viewpoints pandered to and thrown right into out faces. There are no scenes of the American flag being flown mindlessly about, no "God Bless America", only a very dark and extremely violent sense of what America may one day come to in Garland's vision.
CIVIL WAR gets an '8' rating.
Set in some unknown future, CIVIL WAR stars Kirsten Dunst as a hardened photojournalist covering the climax of a particularly brutal war of various forces out to overthrow a neo-fascistic dictatorial American president (Nick Offerman, of the HBO post-apocalypse series "The Last Of Us"). It is the intent, however suicidal it may seem, for her crew to get into Washington D. C. first before elements of either the Western Forces or the extremely odd pairing of militias from decidedly "progressive" California and very Right-leaning Texas have a chance to "finish the job", as it were, which means assassinating Offerman. But while preparing to leave New York City, which itself has come under siege, Dunst picks up, however unintentionally and unwanted (at first), a much younger photojournalist (Cailee Spaeny) who is an admirer of hers. Despite Spaeny's intrusion into their little "caravan", Dunst comes to admire the prodigy's stamina. She does, however, advise her not to ask too many questions about what she is about to witness, saying it is the job of the public to ask those questions. And because they can't do a straight 200-mile shot from New York to D. C., they take a long way around through the war-torn states of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, encountering what an actual civil war inside a 21st century America does to the people, whether they are involved directly or get sucked into the horror of it all, as Dunst, Spaeny, and company do. Garland doesn't give a "rooting" interest, as extremists on either side of the political divide might have wanted; and, despite the graphic language and extreme war violence, the film is all the better for it. So too is the eventual climax inside the White House, an ending that can best be described as chillingly and disturbingly ambiguous.
Garland, known for such films as 2015's EX MACHINA, and 2018's ANNIHILATION, takes a decidedly dispassionate look at war. He does not, however, stint on the horrors of war, even one as fictional as this one is, and, however upsetting such ultra-bloody scenes are, closely mirroring what we saw in FULL METAL JACKET and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, he forces us to confront the often senseless nature of war, and the senseless barbarity that often arises from it. And much like the characters in his film, Garland utterly refuses to take a side, which will certainly upset a few on the Left, and a whole hell of a lot more on the Right, who often like their viewpoints pandered to and thrown right into out faces. There are no scenes of the American flag being flown mindlessly about, no "God Bless America", only a very dark and extremely violent sense of what America may one day come to in Garland's vision.
CIVIL WAR gets an '8' rating.
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