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Civil War Movie Review

Civil War is a 2024 dystopian thriller film directed by Alex Garland and starring Kirsten Dunst. It’s a solidly made, but disappointingly cowardly movie.

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“I’ve never been so scared in my entire life.

And I’ve never felt more alive“

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In a dystopian future America, a team of military-embedded journalists races against time to reach Washington, D.C., before rebel factions descend upon the White House. This film was a big letdown for me, primarily for the fact that it was directed by Alex Garland, a filmmaker whom I once absolutely adored. But gone are the days of ‘Ex Machina’ and ‘Annihilation’ sadly. Yes, this is miles better than that atrocity that was ‘Men’, but it still left a lot to be desired.

After this film, perhaps Garland should ask himself whether he should be doing original screenplays as he is maybe better suited for adapting others’ material. His writing on this film is the weakest aspect overall – it felt hollow, pointlessly ambiguous in facts and details and just plain lazy. It signals once again that critics would always appreciate ambiguity and plot holes over coherent storytelling, which is something that audiences would be less forgiving of and understandably so.

Imagine making a movie about the current political landscape of America and not commenting upon it in any more meaningful manner. This is a part of a larger issue in Hollywood currently – their lack of guts to actually deal with politics in a deeper and more honest way. They aren’t taking any sides and they aren’t attacking any side, which continues to bother me. Gone are the days of the biting commentary that is ‘Network’ for instance and what we are left with is toothless cinema has nothing of substance to say. It painfully realistically portrayed the journalists as these immoral, emotionless people in search of the perfect shot. At least the film had that going for it thematically speaking.

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It is obvious that Garland did not want to take sides and he wanted to confuse anyone by making Texas and California allies, which would never happen in real life. But this approach did not work for me as I favor more realistic dystopian stories than these out there concepts that are so wild that they fail to be timely or relevant. Technically, Garland included a critique of the left by mentioning Antifa and a critique of the right by doing an end scene that is basically an insurrection, but these were smaller moments in an otherwise frustratingly apolitical and spineless film.

With that being said, I still liked Civil War for what it is. Yes, its anti-war and anti-violence messaging is standard, safe stuff, but at least the movie operated at full capacity in the technical aspects and the overall atmosphere that was super intense and uncomfortable fittingly so. The film sold that feel of chaos and danger in this almost post-apocalyptic world.

The highlight is the acting. Kirsten Dunst delivered some of her best work to date in the role of the main journalist. She commanded the screen and stole the movie from everyone else in such a confident, believable turn. Cailee Spaeny of ‘Priscilla’ fame was also surprisingly good while Stephen McKinley Henderson is obviously always a delight. He was by far the most likable part of this highly unsympathetic cast of characters. Wagner Moura was quite charismatic too, but Nick Offerman got very little to do as the president and Jesse Plemons stole the show in such a small, but memorable role.

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Civil War is also superbly shot, very effectively edited and powerfully directed from a technical standpoint. Garland the director was let down by Garland the writer in this instance as the movie elevated its poor script in every single area, especially in some impressive set pieces. The ending is also super memorable and uncomfortable in a very effective way.