THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Sometimes, you just don't know if there even is a side worth being on if you don't know what you're fighting for or who you're fighting.
PLOT
2024's Civil War takes place in a dystopia where the United States of America have fallen into shambles due to a fascist president on his third term who has chosen to go rogue in shocking decisions such as: Disbanding the FBI, using military force against american citizens and refuse to give up executive power by disavowing the system of checks & balances. Although he believes to claim an imminent victory, it's expected that Washington DC will be reached by the Western Forces of Texas & California. In New York City, veteran war photographer Lee Smith joins journalist colleague from Reuters named Joel and their mentor from the Times, Sammy, on a road trip DC to interview the president. Sammy only wants to join them for the sake of reaching the frontlines in Charlottesville, Virginia. By morning though, they're also joined by a younger photojournalist named Jessie Cullen who aspires to make great work in the same vein as Lee. In their first stop being a gas station, Jessie finds a nearby car wash where two men are being tortured for accused looting. When a guard follows her, Lee defuses the situation by taking pictures for him to pose but Jessie berates herself for not doing it instead. After an overnight stop near ongoing fighting, they later document next day combat where secessionist militiamen successfully assault a loyalist-held building. As Jessie photographs the execution of prisoners, Lee recognizes her potential and decides to mentor her. After the group spends another night at a refugee camp, they pass through a small town that tries to ignore the war despite being under watchful guard. By the time they then pass a sniper battle amid the remains of a Christmas fair where neither side knows who they're fighting, Jessie's improved nerve that desensitizes her to violence would also benefit her skills in photography. As they continue driving, the four encounter two foreign reporters they're friends with, Tony & Bohai (Nelson Lee & Evan Lai). They get too playful when Tony & Jessie swap cars while driving. When Bohai drives off, she and Jessie get held at gunpoint by uniformed militia burying civilians in a mass grave. Tony joins Lee & Joel in negotiating while Sammy stays with the car. During the negotiation however, a militia leader wearing sunglasses kills both Tony & Bohai for not being American. Before he can kill the others, Sammy intervenes by driving through him. Just as they drive away though, he gets shot by another militiaman and dies from his wound by the time they reach a WF base in Charlottesville. There, they find out most of loyalists are surrendering which leaves DC to be defended by remnants of armed forces and Secret Service. Joel worries that because of this, Sammy died for nothing but Lee consoles him into believing he would've wanted to go out the way he did. As the remaining three make it to DC, the infiltration by WF is as its peak due to breaching the fortified perimeter of the White House. Within a constant firefight, the WF wipes out what's left of Secret Service and intercept a distraction involving the presidential limousine. When Jessie steps into the line of fire, Lee takes the bullet as she pushes her to safety, resulting in the latter to capture the former's death on camera. Jessie and Joel continue into the Oval Office with WF and drag the president from his desk. Joel gets his quote from the president as he pleads to not be killed and the film ends with Jessie photographing WF posing the president's corpse after shooting him.
THOUGHTS
Director Alex Garland is known to make captivating stories and this one is most different because it felt like he gave a glimpse of reality in resemblance to what he went for when writing 28 Days Later. This part of reality that he’s exploring is the constant tension people put each other through for having different beliefs, and in this case, politics is what pulls the trigger. We may dislike such leaders for taking directions we think can backfire, but once someone disagrees with you, there is a chance of them not taking it lightly. And that is the big problem that creates the ripple effects of this fictional setting. With a fantastic editing & cinematography that brings life to the photos that are taken by the characters, you come to grasp how severe the destruction is when we let our beliefs get the best of us. If we succumb to animosity and pride so quickly, we destroy humanity as we know it. Actor Nick Offerman as the President is a fine example of leaders who make decisions for themselves and the repercussions blow up exponentially. He does not care about the country the way he wants others to believe and he makes clear he doesn’t feel regret the way he should. Once you pick up on this, you know he doesn’t deserve any sympathy for his demise but it also shows how playing fire with fire does not dissolve the conflict the way WF thought. The final shot of them standing over his corpse only seals the deal that the cycle of violence will go on and no one will give second thought about it. The worst part of the Presidents actions is how it inspires many to act irrational. The most notable one has to be Jesse Plemons as the sunglasses wearing militia leader. He’s only there for five minutes, yet his actions defined the whole point of the movie. Him killing people he didn’t identify as American and then asking the main cast ‘What kind of American are you?’ is so intense because it reflects exactly how far people can go with their beliefs. Although he gets dealt with, there are still many who feel the same as him. The real selling point for me however is following a group of characters who aren’t on any side and just want to capture a moment everyone else would fight for. Although they don’t speak their political stance, the moments they share may give them an idea on how they would feel once the journey ends for them. Kirsten Dunst is straight up incredible as Lee because we see her regain humanity after years of being prone to the trauma of violence in her line of work. While it may seem that she would take this path, it’s guaranteed to go there thanks to being an unlikely mentor towards another. Cailee Spaeny shook things up as Jessie because she has her own ambition in wanting to be as great as Lee is. The latter of course starts out cold because she is looking out for her by not wanting her to be numb to it like her. Since the former remains determined to reach greatness, she respects that and takes her under her wing, bonding whenever she could. What makes Lee’s death so shocking is that it was her compassion that finalizes Jessie’s dehumanization and basically taking her place. It even was disturbing for the protege to take a picture of her death, but she did it because she knew she would do the same. After photographing the president, I hope she is able to realize what was done to reach the standards she was seeking. Moving on, I was impressed with Wagner Moura as Joel because he is the on my one open to admit he is part of such work for the thrill of it. For a long time, the action was calling to him and he couldn’t get away from it because it was always nearby. However, he got his reality check when getting too close to it because once he starts losing his friends, he understands war is not for the faint of heart. That especially was the point when it came to his eldest friend Sammy. Stephen Henderson was captivating in this role because because he was the only one who tried cutting whatever tension was there. He was honestly the most human by the end of it because he saw how everyone was feeling and didn’t hesitate pointing it out such as seeing how much of a toll the trip was for Jessie and how terrifying Plemons’ soldier was. With such a moral compass, it became a big loss when it came to losing him because emotions were all over the place for the remaining group that they weren’t completely sure how to act after him not being part of the journey anymore. Before her own sacrifice, Lee showed humanity when she deleted a picture of his dead body because she didn’t want to remember him that way. Considering that a picture and a quote were still taken, I’d like to think his death still wasn’t in vain. However, I hope Joel can recover from this emotionally as well. I may have said what I said to explain all the greatness behind this picture, but there are still moments I scratch my head about. For instance, since this dystopia reveals American dollars to be useless and Canadian dollars to be highly valuable, why doesn’t Lee lead with that at the gas station? I can’t help think that aloud because it ain’t like those guys seemed to be hard ballers despite being armed. And if Canadian money is more valuable, it’s crazy to know how much ammunition would be wasted when the militia shoot up loyalists at the next building. Also, I don’t know about y’all, but why would anyone want to make an overnight stop at a train station? I know the first hotel we saw in NY was poor service due to the circumstances, but I doubt others are worse than sleeping outside. I even wonder how does Jessie still have enough developer for her pictures? I’m sure analog can beat digital for such a dystopia, but she’s lucky she can still salvage enough for this particular trip. And I know I’m not alone when I say Lee could’ve avoided three deaths had she slowed down and not allow Tony to swap cars with Jesse. I even laugh at the fact WF chose to not start with the rocket launcher when raiding the White House. If they want to take down the President so bad, it’s a surprise they didn’t use that sooner. Lastly, why doesn’t the President hide in a bunker. It would’ve been a crazy time jump/lapse to see WF and the core cast wait it out at the White House once he runs out of supplies to avoid consequences of his actions. Ignore this, then you’ll love this movie as much as I have. In conclusion, A24’s Civil War is an incredible adventure film for giving a gripping vision of what could be reality itself. If political thrillers are your game, see this now.
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