Film Review – Civil War (2024)

For what he says will be his last film – as a director, that is – Alex Garland gives us a cold hard look at a dystopia that’s unsettlingly within touching distance of now. A President who is more than a little reminiscent of the likely Republican candidate in this year’s US Presidential Election just makes the feeling more acute – and the “could it happen?” question even louder. A terrifying thought.

In Civil War, Garland shows us the US in the middle of its second Civil War. That three-term President (Nick Offerman) and his government are challenged by the combined forces of Texas and California and the fighting is bitter, despite pockets of resistance that refuse to acknowledge reality. While the President thinks he’s got his opponents backed into a corner, a raid on the Capitol looks imminent and a group of war correspondents take to the road to get there before it starts. If the attack happens, they need to cover it – and, if they can get to him, a POTUS interview is a must. Who knows? It could be his last words.

Expectations of some hard-hitting political cinema are high, but that’s not the outcome. It feels like Garland, who also wrote the script, is reluctant to engage in that particular debate. There’s plenty of focus on the fighting, from mass military operations to just a handful of individuals and, for all the big set-pieces, the most chilling sequence is a five minute cameo fromApocalypse Now. The references are obvious and regular – the soundtrack, aerial shots of helicopters, rising mists and the overall search for a solitary powerful man. Sadly, it’s not in the same league as Coppola’s sprawling war epic, so it falls to the quartet in the Press vehicle to carry the narrative.

Respected photo journalist Lee (Kirsten Dunst) and her colleague Joel (Wagner Moura) are ed by veteran hack Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and aspiring young photographer, Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), who longs to the ranks of war correspondents and models herself on Lee. And, as their journey nears its climax, the cumulative trauma from what they’ve seen and done rises to the surface, so even the experienced Lee and Joel crack under the pressure. Their belief in the magic word “Press” to protect them is shattered.

Witnessing the horrors of modern warfare is bad enough, but they constantly have to wrestle with a moral dilemma. People are injured and killed right in front of them, but what should they do? Take a photograph – after all, that’s the reason why they’re there, to show readers what’s happening – or try to help, even save, the person. While they’re pulled in both directions, there’s the added piquancy of adrenalin: Jessie is in turns terrified and hysterical, but its that she feels truly alive when she’s in the middle of a battle. And she proves to be increasingly fearless in her single minded pursuit of that all-important shot. An interesting and complex dilemma it may be, but it’s not enough to drive the film. Yet that’s what it turns out to be, because the characters are in the main so sketchily drawn, it’s hard to feel totally involved in them. Without any political discussion to speak of, it’s all that’s left. And it needs so much more.

★★★

In UK cinemas from 12th April / Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jesse Plemons, Nick Offerman / Dir: Alex Garland / Entertainment Film Distribution / 15