‘Civil War’ Review – A Gripping Nationwide Nightmare

Chris Sawin   |  

Apr 15, 2024

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In Alex Gardland’s Civil War, weathered and thick-skinned military photojournalist Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst) and her journalist colleague Joel (Wagner Moura) are traveling the 857-mile journey from New York to Washington, D.C., to interview the President (Nick Offerman).

The United States has become a deadly dystopian wasteland in a hauntingly plausible near future.

Unlikely states have become allies, while the outside world is nothing more than a bullet-ridden, blood-gushing war zone. Along for the probably lethal road trip is a veteran New York Times journalist named Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and a young rookie photographer named Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), who also idolizes Lee.

According to an interview with consequence.net, Nick Offerman stated that the lack of politics in Civil War is his “absolute favorite thing about the film,” also declaring, “You don’t really know what side this President is on, and if the film had political specificity, it would be a failure.”

There isn’t a weak performance in the film. Kirsten Dunst’s character is reluctantly protective of Jessie. The audience knows her character’s fate, and the film makes it seem that she also knows her fate.

Next to Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura shows the most emotion. The events of the war haven’t desensitized him in the way it has Lee. He seems to care legitimately about everyone he’s traveling with and keeps their well-being in mind while also chasing a good story.

Stephen McKinley Henderson has a worried uncle vibe in the film. His character is overly cautious, but for good reason, since his health isn’t the best. Cailee Spaeny’s Jessie matures the most throughout the story. At the beginning of the film, she is presented as helpless; initially not even wanting to take photos because she’s so scared. By the film’s end, Jessie’s almost getting shot because of the pictures she’s been capturing.

Civil War has the ambiance of a zombie film, except the very much alive human civilization is scarier than the brain-eating undead could ever be. There are various alliances between the states. Most who have seen the film are the most critical of California and Texas teaming up to be what’s referred to as the Western Forces.

The best way to explain these alliances is that the most drastic of times calls for the most drastic measures. The President is operating unconstitutionally and killing American civilians for his gain.

There is a cutthroat mentality in Civil War. Alliances or not, everyone is mostly only worried about themselves. Garland inserting politics into the story would have resulted in an entirely different cinematic endeavor — risking either dating the film or making it feel one-sided.

The film Civil War is a believable, relatable, and genuinely terrifying war film that could be a possible future within the next few years. And to be clear, civilization hasn’t transcended politics in Civil War. People have devolved so much that is glorified caveman shit with guns.

The film’s journalist perspective sees the press operating as a neutral party. Although they risk their lives and are in harm’s way, most individuals don’t go out of their way to hurt writers and photographers.

It’s also intriguing how Alex Garland wrote the story’s four main characters. Lee Smith is an accomplished photojournalist who has seen everything. Her colleague Joel still gets excited about a potentially juicy story.

Sammy, the veteran journalist, is more cautious, while Jessie, the rookie, still doesn’t know her place. She operates as a dumb kid who is still learning to do her job without almost dying.

You witness these journalists risk their lives to get a decent shot or a worthwhile story, and the film shows you the pictures that Lee and Jessie take. These black-and-white moments in time are unbelievably brutal when a nation is inevitably imploding itself.

At just under two hours, the biggest issue with Civil War is that the ending is expected. Civil War is an unusual circumstance where you could have and would have easily spent more time in this hectically horrific world for at least another half hour.

Civil War is chock full of convincing imagery, including deteriorated malls with crashed helicopters in the parking lot, the night sky being lit up by explosive gunfire, random buildings smoking in the distance, and an endless sea of abandoned cars.

The scariest aspect of Civil War is that it feels like it isn’t far off from happening. It is a haunting story that feels authentic and documents bloodshed during a nationwide nightmare.

 It’s as if the world willingly puts itself through a manufactured Armageddon to destroy the current government and civilization and start over from scratch; realistically terrifying.

NEXT: ‘The First Omen’ Review – Silencio, Satan