Civil War - Review

[Music] hello everybody I'm Dan Merl here with my review of Civil War which is hitting theaters this weekend it's the latest film from director Alex Garland coming off of 2022 is men which was a somewhat shaky follow-up to exmachina and Annihilation here Garland imagines an America in the not too distant future that's in the grips of a civil war with the US desperately fending off attacks from the Western Federation of California and Texas along with a handful of other Rebellion groups Kirsten Dunst plays Lee a veteran and hardened War photographer who's trying to get to Washington DC with her partner Joel played by Wagner MAA to interview the president before the capital potentially falls into the Western federation's hands Le and Joel are joined by an aspiring young photographer named Jesse played by Kaylee spany whose star is quickly on the rise and a veteran journalist named Samy played by the underrated stevenh McKinley Henderson who stuer was sadly just cut out of Dune par part two this movie Civil War comes at a very politically fraught time here in the United States when many people both public and private citizens have openly speculated about the prospects of another civil war in America and some of the more extreme public figures have even begun calling for one in some instances so it wouldn't surprise me if some people as the movie hits theaters decided to project their own political ideologies onto this movie to use it as sort of an artistic confirmation bias to take it as a validation of one side over the other but the truth about Alex Garland's Civil War is that it doesn't seem the least bit interested in labels or acting as a direct metaphor for Donald Trump or Joe Biden Maga or blue States instead it's a harrowing boots on the ground look at the horrors a conflict like this would bring Horrors that cross ideological lines and become simply human there was a lot of speculation before this movie came out about the movie's Western Federation which is an alliance between California and Texas a lot of people saying well how is the movie going to explain how two states that are so radically divided politically in today's America you know how did they come together to be this Force against the United States and the answer is that the movie's not interested in providing that answer because that's not what the movie is about we never find out why the war is being fought or how Texas and California came to unite or what the ideologies are on either side of this conflict there are fleeting references made to things like a three-term president the bombing of civilians the disbanding of the FBI but this all plays on the edges of the story my guess is that Alex Garland knew that the more specific he got about the actual conflict the more likely it would be that this movie was adopted by one side of the political Spectrum as an indictment or to play against the other and this movie is sort of the opposite of that this is a movie about the dehumanization of War not about why it's fought but the effects of it it's an indictment of conflict we aren't cheering for one side or the other because horror lies behind the front lines on both sides in the end the reason California and Texas have United is inconsequential to the story that's being told which is a human story not a political one this isn't a wide- ranging look at the Civil War this is very much Through The Eyes of our four main journalist characters as they try to get to Washington DC through all of the different back roads that they have to take because the major thorough Affairs have been completely wiped out by conflict even an idilic small town is revealed to be under the watch of rooftop snipers a sign that war has permeated the very fabric of American Life are you guys aware there's like a pretty huge civil war going on all across America oh sure but we just try to stay out stay out with what we see on the news seems like it's for the best the most tense encounter comes between the journalist and a soldier played by an uncredited Jesse plens it's unclear what side Jesse plens is on or if he's even on a side this encounter and others in the movie are representative of the chaos and confusion of war and something that Alex garland does very well is to make sure that we don't feel that any of our characters or any of the other characters in this movie are completely safe at any moment it keeps you on the edge of your seat because you genuinely do think that their lives are in danger and in fact they are as the group gets closer to Washington DC the fighting intensifies but Garland is careful never to give the audience battle fatigue the violence in this movie comes in quick short bursts and I have to give credit to the film's sound design team because every gunshot in this movie feels like 10 gunshots it is jarring it's not the same movie gunfire with the same stock effects you feel the violence in this film and again that's the intended effect Alex Garland doesn't want you to glaze over and see this as spectacle he wants you to see this as actual human onh human violence through it all Lee and Jesse find themselves on opposite paths as Le begins to cope with a lifetime of dissociating herself with violence in the feudal hope that her work would help stop future Wars and Jesse struggles to dissociate herself with the terrible realities of war Civil War depicts being a wartime journalist as requiring the fog of War to set in a little bit to detach yourself from Human suffering in order to do your job and a large part of the movie is a look at the pitfalls of that kind of Detachment why didn't I just tell him not to shoot them they're probably going to kill them anyways how do you know he doesn't know but that's besides the point once you start asking yourself those questions you can't stop so we don't ask we record so other people ask want to be a journalist that's the job I guess it's not completely unreasonable for audiences to expect a movie called Civil War made in today's America to be or to have a political statement or to act as some sort of cautionary tale about following one side or another but I think what the movie does is a lot more effective and choosing to follow a group of journalists who are there to document the conflict Civil War takes the focus off of the why of the war and puts it squarely on the effects of the war and given what we see in this movie if anybody on any part of the political Spectrum actually finds themsel rooting for this conflict to happen then they need to take a really hard look at themselves because this is not a Rosy portrait this is not an everything's worth it kind of movie this is a horror Tale in its own way of just what would happen if this were to break out where some may expect this to be the most political film in a US election year Alex Garland is challenging us to see it apolitically to reconnect with our sense of dread and to see what war crimes on American soil would actually look like how do we avoid a world where Americans like Lee will have to train themselves to become apathetic to the suffering of their fellow citizens or are we living in that world already minus the armed conflict these are the kinds of questions that the movie leaves you with and I'm sure that there will be some folks out there who try to take this movie and use it as a political weapon against the people that they don't like and say that this is a very clean metaphor for this thing or the other it's anything but at a reported $50 million this is Indie distributor a24 biggest budgeted film to date and it makes good use of those resources because it feels like a movie two to three times larger than the budget that it has but the impact is is even bigger Civil War is a gripping film from beginning to end culminating in a massive battle that in almost any other movie might solicit oo and O from the crowd here the finale is more likely to generate clinched teeth and a sigh of relief after it's over not because the good guys have beaten the bad guys but because after nearly two hours of not being able to tell who's who the movie's over and you can finally catch your breath overall I was between weather rating this as it's good or see it now but I think the movie's technical prowess pushes it over the top and I'm putting it into the lower range of the see it now category even if you divorce it from today's political situation it's still an extremely wellmade and well-acted movie warning though this is an intense film this is not a fun time at the theater so what do you think are you going to be heading out to see civil W this weekend let me know down in the comments below and as always please stay tuned right here in the channel for more movie news reviews box office and more thanks for spending part of your day here with me until next time stay safe and I'll see you then bye e [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Dan Murrell

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Keywords: dan murrell, dan murrell movies, movies, civil war, civil war movie, civil war review, civil war 2024 movie, civil war movie review

Id: whB199Wgm_4

Length: 8min 46sec (526 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 12 2024