What's it actually about? | Civil War (2024) Review

19 states have suceeded the United States Army ramps up hey guys so I just got a priest screening to Alex Garland's Civil War it's a solid film probably one of his best in a recent while it reminds me a lot of his earlier work 28 Days Later with the world in chaos the road tripping the crazy events along the way and the military they don't care if you're on their side or not you're just at their Mercy you don't know what side they fighting for someone's trying to kill us we are trying to kill them I've heard people say this movie in the chilling casual nihilistic nature many of the people have on screen reminds them of Apocalypse Now I thought that was kind of fascinating there are touches of Moody acoustic music reminiscing of The Last of Us in its soundtrack and there are many hard cuts to music of the 70s era like something that might have been playing out of a soldier's radio during the Vietnam war the war photographer team we follow is on a mission to get an interview with the president Lee Joel Sammy and and all their acting is done phenomenally the characters each feel like their own world of reasonings yet they're all driven by something and we'll come back to that Lee is a hardened and dead-eyed legendary member of the press played very effectively by Kirsten duns Joel is the Ecentric partner in crime and an engaging character played by Wagner MOA Samy is a wise and witted Advanced member of the crew who just can't pull himself away from this line of work you know Steven McKinley Henderson is someone on I've grown to absolutely love seeing in many interesting sci-fi and thrillers whether it be a previous Alex garland work like the miniseries devs or his role in Bose's afraid do you ever wish that she was dead what or Dune need I go on and if I've learned anything about the roles he plays he's either going to be the most lovable and sensible guy of the room or potentially the scariest we're all that wisdom wit and carefully chosen words are used against protagonist finally we have Lind a girl aspiring to be a war photographer and apparently eager to throw herself into the deep end and experience the Casual Terrors of day-to-day life during this Civil War lynon is played by Kaylee spany who actually isn't new to Alex Garland's work in fact she was also in the miniseries devs I just didn't recognize her at the time as a matter of fact there are quite a few cast members in this movie come straight out of devs I love how the movie shoves the characters in Us in line shoulder-to-shoulder with other soldiers while the bullet storms whiz crack and pop everywhere all around nothing is safe and this movie does a great job with some of the moments that made my stomach go up into my chest and giving me that sickly gut feeling that makes me go oh no with wide eyes cinematography we follow these characters closely and the cinematography does a fine job of putting some of that pressure on our shoulders the camera is often at eye level following closely from situation to situation it keeps Us close to the danger and unable to escape when someone's hunkering down behind cover so is a camera like we're right there with them when our characters are in the [ __ ] we're in the [ __ ] the cinematographer for this movie is Rob Hardy and he's done previous work for Alex Garland in Annihilation exmachina and interestingly Mission Impossible Fallout with the up close and scarily grounded intensities I was often given flashbacks to Katherine Bigelow's tense active scenarios in her films there are moments when the soldiers shout an array of orders and responses shifting positions all while the enemy is right ahead ahead of them the camera stays back with the photographers peing when they do and trying to stay out of the way while getting substantial shots of the situation just like our the main characters we're not entirely tied down by any means but it never really lets us Escape anything that's going on writing I think the writing works for the tone this movie has is unexpectedly funny for the majority of the film with the believable working men's no [ __ ] kind of attitude and all that can quickly switch on a dime as soon as the effects of the Civil War suddenly reach them or or they run into it I really like the way this film handles its themes and the way it all comes full circle the characters are all of their own circumstances and you can get that sense without even knowing their backstories that's also just good acting but different things they say can constantly sway what you think about one character or another going in I realized this is not a political film in the sense that I might have been expecting honestly I wasn't sure what I was expecting besides the obvious anti-war message in the cycle of nihilism in fact much of what's going on in the movies world is pretty vague and is left mostly to the imagination this is a tense character-driven story that focuses on the tolls a certain Obsession can take the reason they're all here and can't pull themselves away in the first place I feel like going in blind and figuring it out on your own is a part of the experience with this film but in a moment I will explain what I think the themes of this movie are each gunshot is strikingly loud they act almost like jump scares especially in the first sudden occurrence earlier on and it's quite jarring so if you're sensitive to sudden loud noises you've been warned the explosions are bigger than they should be our characters are often smiling while hunkering down behind cover like stormchasers finding their Rush amid chaos they chase it they say dangerously close they peer into that Abyss this is a story about the sensationalization of spectacle the spectacle of War I can imagine it being stretched as spectacle in general from stunts to pranks to worse in a world surrounded by death and inescapable Bloodshed heed the things people are willing to do that makes them feel alive well that's all I have for you today if any of what I've said to this point interests you then this movie is definitely worth a watch if you made it this far into the video I thank you take care and have a good day I'll see you next time

Channel: Eddie W. Brooks

Views: 6,627

Keywords: a24, a24films, civilwar, civilwarmovie, alexgarland, 28dayslater, review, moviereview, Kirsten Dunst

Id: bkMDL3YqG9w

Length: 6min 1sec (361 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 13 2024