Civil War Review
Harrowing and original, Civil War is a film that has to be experienced on the biggest screen possible.
In a dystopian future America, the President (Nick Offerman) has given himself a third term in office and disbanded the FBI. This has sparked a new Civil War, with Texas and California seceding and creating the Western Forces, and other states creating their own factions. As these insurgents race to the White House to take down the President, a group of war reporters try to beat them there to get a final interview with the man himself. Lee (Kirsten Dunst) and Joel (Wagner Moura) must travel through the desolate and militant US to get there, joined by an aged hanger on Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and a young up and comer Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), but the dangers they face along the way may mean that they never reach the President; and if they do, chances are they’ll be shot on sight.
Alex Garland is known for nuanced sci-fi spectacle, and here he drops the sci-fi in favour of a revisionist history lens. His take on the American political system is less Red v Blue, and more unified against the overreaches of power and the horror of war. This is a largely apolitical piece, with Garland’s hero alliance of the Western Forces being comprised of California and Texas, the two most stereotypical Blue and Red states respectively, taking down a President who has overstepped with a third term.
Garland focuses much more on the plight of our ragged band of war reporters than he does the broader conflict. Kirsten Dunst is remarkable in her lead role, completely engrossing as the jaded war photographer. She’s ably matched by the buoyant, slightly mad performance of Wagner Moura. Probably the most remarkable performance, however, comes from the late ring in - Jesse Plemons. Plemons delivers an absolutely shocking role as a racist, crazed madman emboldened by the power of the situation, and his 5 minutes of screentime will probably stick with you forever.
Garland’s film is often less remarkable for the plot than for how it makes you feel, and the bywords of stress, panic, terror and a deep, deep foreboding spring to mind. Key to this is the sound design and cinematography. There are plenty of incredible visuals in the film, from fire sparks in slow motion around a car and the prone President on the oval office floor, to some of the iconography of America being blasted apart or destroyed. The sound design is shocking and brash, and in particular in the last half hour of the film, the movie dials it up a notch. As the Western Forces burst into Washington DC, the sound design bursts through your movie-going haze; you’ll be on the edge of your seat.
Civil War is a film that takes an interesting premise, this revisionist history look at American politics, and avoids the potential political pitfalls to deliver a message that can be unanimously agreed upon; that the sanctity of unity and peace is the most important part. But it’s a movie that does more than that - it’s a film that takes an interesting premise and elevates it with remarkable performance, cinematography and unbeatable sound design. This is a movie that deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible and with the best sound possible, because it can and does function as a shock to the system.
