Review: Civil War

Welcome To The Frontline

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INTRODUCTION

This is a quick review of the newly released film Civil War. Keep in mind this is but one of the many movies I watch every year, and that whatever initial grade I come up for this film could change for better or worse with time. To better keep up to date with both my thoughts on other movies and if my feelings on this film changed, follow me on Letterboxd.

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THE PLOT

Via Letterboxd: In the near future, a group of war journalists attempt to survive while reporting the truth as the United States stands on the brink of civil war.

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QUICK REVIEW

It takes a lot of balls to release a film about a hypothetical civil war in the midst of what looks to be another stressful election year with a close result that will leave the country deeply divided regardless who wins. Cancel your subscription if you must, but I take the fact that we’re currently in a political world where a second Trump presidency is currently probable very serious. As in I’m very concerned. Not because we can get another four years of disagreements from me on certain tax policy or judge appointments, but because we live in scary times where one party outright rejects democratic results and spends their time in governance targeting and punishing minority groups, taking delight in taking rights away when given the chance. Disagree with the left on policy all you want (hell as a non-partisan who embraces capitalism and plenty smaller government policy I certainly disagree with that group on various fronts) but they’re not worshiping at the feet of an accused rapist who openly dreams about being a dictator and unleashing violence on those who protest him.

My point being is that if you’re going to tackle this idea that we’re facing this potential scary future where our politics drive us to the ultimate divorce, you better have the courage as well to get political with it. This is no time to pull punches. No time to “both sides” such a subject where only one side of the political spectrum in this country is fantasizing about such a future whenever they lose elections. Perhaps its just hitting too close to home with its release timing, but Alex Garland better have something more to say than “We need to hug it out and get along more because war is bad, and journalists are heroes for covering it.”

So did we get that? Did Alex Garland for all his comments about how this movie needs to start conversations show me that he was willing to go there? Not only did he pull his punches and show me he was not willing to go there, he also created characters that were so passive and detached from the horrors in front of them that I found myself feeling nothing for them.

But is that what Garland wanted? Those who like this movie seem to indicate he did. On top of not exploring the politics around what would cause a civil war in this country and what factions would unite in such an event (With the use of laughably bad geopolitics), he also makes the protagonists of this movie feel like such background characters to the mayhem that they almost come off ghoulish in the way they stand to the side as people kill each other. Garland seems to want the journalists to feel impartial and in turn we should be as well, detached from it all. But there is a level of detach-ness that starts to make one seem less human and art should evoke emotion rather than beg for one to straddle the fence. If Garland was looking to make me feel like I should be watching this with no dog in the hunt, he got his wish in the form of complete apathy from me.

All this hollowness from the film being scared to get truly political and the characters feeling so passive left me feeling the most apathetic I’ve been watching a story unfold since I watched Black Adam two years ago. That’s not the fault of the actors by the way. The entire ensemble here does deliver solid performances given what they’re asked to do. Even Cailee Spaeny who is regulated to a role as the young character who keeps getting everyone into trouble - to the point people get killed thanks to her.

But I can’t pretend this isn’t a well-made movie in the technical sense. The direction, cinematography, the visuals, a great soundtrack, and the incredible sound design are all top-notch. If I were grading this movie just on that alone we’d be in B+ territory. But the story and its characters left me so frustrated and wanting that I ultimately landed on giving this an initial C+.

Perhaps with time as the era of Trump driving the political atmosphere fades away I might reconsider this movie in a different light. Perhaps I’ll be able to ignore the punches pulled, and the decision to make the journalists we follow so detached from what’s happening around them in the name of “impartial journalism.” But at this moment, at this time, while living through a very fragile moment for the country, Civil War is one of the most hollow movies I’ve ever seen regardless of its great technical filmmaking.

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INTIAL GRADING

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