Civil War

 

This review may contain spoilers!

Civil War is a speculative dystopian film depicting the concept of the United States fracturing into four factions vying for power and control. The plot centres on a team of war journalists who are driving across country towards Washington DC in the hopes of interviewing the embattled President.

This is a film that feels really timely in a period where conflict is at the forefront of our minds globally, and America is filled with strong opposing political viewpoints that have broken out into violence recently. Yet the genius of this movie is that this isn't as easy as going it is a political right versus a political left sort of film, the conflicting sides are very unique and their motivations harder to identify. Every American that we meet on-screen has the potential to be hostile and a threat to our journalist protagonists. This film handles tension well, there can be some moments that will really have you in a chokehold with just a few set pieces and some stunning performances. The whole film isn't one I would describe as a war film or a political thriller, ironically this is a road trip film. Civil War presents as an all-American road trip in which our characters are driving their way slowly to Washington D.C. to meet the President. Yet where a road trip film might bring a dysfunctional family together while they see the wonders of America, this film unveils the dark horror of what America could be to our protagonists. Watching the 'family unit' at the core of this feature have misery visited upon them and slowly get torn apart until we are left with the remains is the strongest reason to get out there and see Civil War.

 

This movie is also beautifully shot with this intimate attention to detail on our core cast and long expansive visuals of a desolate dystopian America. There is a real reverence here to framing something that moves you visually, which is so powerful given that war photography is at the centre of all this. I also felt the score had me on edge throughout, while the soundtrack really lifted up the brutal irony of the scenes those tracks were playing in. My favourite example of this was 'Breakers Roar' by Sturgill Simpson, which feels warm and uplifting while playing against tragedy.

 

Nick Offerman, who played the President, feels very stoic and robust while also being appropriately charismatic for the role; Offerman leads us into the film and does a great job of crafting a very disarming version of an American icon. Kirsten Dunst, who played Lee, is a very cold role who is distanced from the scale of conflict around her; watching Dunst steadily break as this war takes a personal toll on her throughout this makes for a great protagonist journey. Wagner Moura, who played Joel, is very quick-talking and charismatic; Moura's character feels like one who doesn't let a thing phase him and is thrilled by the landscape of horror around them for most of the film. Nelson Lee, who played Tony, was such a thrillseeking hotshot when he is first introduced; the contrast with his intense shutdown during his final scene is excellent work. Stephen McKinley Henderson, who played Sammy, is in one of my favourite roles of his to date; this is a role that feels extremely wise and knowledgeable while also distantly mournful about the fall of the world around them.

However, the best performance came from Jesse Plemons, who played an American Soldier. It feels an odd move in some ways to single out a one scene performance as my favourite role in the movie but there is no part of me that doesn't think Plemons crafted the best narrative moment in the film. There's a very cool indifference from the start of the scene, where things should feel like they could go either way you instead know they are going to go rotten. This soldier character steadily moves through our cast, illiciting fear through an easy-going smirk and blunt disregard. His vitriol slowly coming loose as he interviews them to work out just how 'American' they all are felt like a very real moment; like something that would genuinely develop in a modern American Civil War. I would say Jesse Plemons crafts the most intense, fear-inducing and memorable scenes of the entire movie in this moment.

While I really liked this film overall it was a concept that probably needed to be tightened down a little more. The worldbuilding didn't make a great deal of sense in terms of how the Civil War functioned, stepping a little further back by watching this film through the lens of non-combatants helped this but not by much. I also felt positioning this movie around the perspective of war journalists was an odd one. At times this resulted in a very neautral or distant relationship with the material playing out before us, making it harder to connect with the emotional stakes of a scene. The film feels very empty a lot of the time during the travel sections, we have a number of excellent tense moments but the road to D.C. feels barren and the budget feels really pushed to the limit. There is a whole story arc around a young woman called Jessie randomly joining our journalist team, a storyline that comes together quite quickly with not much attention to detail. If more work had been done to justify Jessie's presence and her sort of mentorship storyline with Lee then I would have been more impressed. The final push into Washington D.C. feels like a whole different movie at times too; just a big 'war is brutal' sequence with none of the poignant reflecting from earlier in the story.

The special effects should be the thing that they got right, this was A24's biggest budget for a film yet. But the effects are a real eyesore in this, with a number of fake vehicles and backdrops that take away from the otherwise impressive camerawork at play.

Cailee Spaeny, who played Jessie, plays the plucky kid who really just wants to prove herself and it is a hard role to fit well tonally into this piece; Spaeny's performance almost finds the mark a few times but she is rare to surprise throughout.

An extremely volatile and well constructed piece of speculative fiction that is sometimes dwarfed by the immense concept driving it. I would give Civil War a 7/10.