April 15, 2024 · Watch the trailer
It’s very easy and often reductive to have political demonization in cinema.
Conservatives routinely rail against Hollywood for their implicit and sometimes explicit bias that jabs at one side of the aisle with impunity, which reinforces the divisiveness in American political and pop culture conversations.
British writer/director Alex Garland, known for his dystopian science fiction filmography, takes a decidedly apolitical stand with his latest film, “Civil War,” which follows a team of war-time journalists on their way to Washington D.C. as secessionist Western Forces lay siege to the American capital.
While there are two clear, definitive sides in the conflict, Garland intentionally leaves out details about why the two sides are at odds and allows audiences to see things from a more neutral perspective, infuriating many moviegoers and yet this strikes a much more interesting conversation about a society that no longer talks to one another and extremist chaos that can ensue from that.
For all of the film’s many moving parts, “Civil War” is grounded by layered performances from its stars, especially Kirsten Dunst, who gives perhaps a career-best turn as a veteran war photojournalist seemingly unfazed by all the chaos and bloodshed around her.
Dunst approaches the role of Lee cerebrally, with a war-hardened callousness that allows her to perform her job at the highest levels with bullets whizzing all around, and yet, there is such an emotional restraint as Lee dives further into the mouth of the beast that slowly builds into a captivating conclusion.
The chemistry between Dunst and “Priscilla” star Cailee Spaeny has both a sisterly and mentor dynamic to it that wonderfully evolves as Spaeny’s Jessie hardens like a diamond under pressure and the dichotomy on display as Lee begins to regain her emotions and humanity as Jessie loses her – in a sense – plays out perfectly in unique, subtle ways that will likely be overlooked on an initial viewing.
Wagner Moura is a powerhouse of energy, rage and emotion as the writer Joel and the bravado in which he carries himself throughout helps reinforce the bravery – and also the brazenness – that journalists have while putting themselves in the line of fire in chase of the story.
Veteran character actor Stephen McKinley Henderson magnificently rounds out the small band of media with a perfect combination of road weariness, wisdom, maturity, and the inability to give up his beat. The repartee the four performers bounce off one another in various combinations in smaller moments really serves as the centerpiece of Garland’s purpose for making “Civil War” and allows audiences to make their own judgments in order to start much needed conversation and dialogue.
Jesse Plemons makes a sobering uncredited cameo as an extremist that the team encounters on their journey and stoically, chillingly takes over the entire film for five minutes to draw out Garland’s most intense sequence and one sure to leave moviegoers on the edge of their seats.
For a film so intrinsically about photojournalism, the cinematography has to be absolutely on point and “Civil War” delivers in spades.
Maximizing the biggest budget A24 has given one of its projects to date at around $50 million, Garland and director of photography Rob Hardy create a wide array of visual landscapes both in shining daylight and cover of light to make the most gorgeous anti-war film since “Apocalypse Now” with a technical marvel that leaps off the biggest screens imaginable.
On top of the illustrious landscapes that Garland isolates his characters in, audiences are able to peer within the camera lenses of both Lee and Jessie to see their work almost in real-time as events unfold in the film and the beauty and artistry of these photographic moments is awe-inspiring and chilling at the same time.
Equally as masterful, the sound work in “Civil War” relishes the almost near silence in some of its most visually bombastic moments, arriving with a deafening quiet that is instantly reminiscent of the Oscar winning work done in last year’s “Oppenheimer.”
The technical artistry that layers every frame of “Civil War” is beyond award worthy, although it’s unclear just how much in the conversation a film this polarizing will hold up eight months from now. Acting nods for Dunst, Spaeny and Plemons should also be in the mix, though they seem infinitely less likely.
Without question A24’s most gawdy, swing-for-the-fences feature to date, “Civil War” is showstopping in its cinematic and emotional impact, especially for those willing to not let personal biases interfere with the experience. Regardless, the subsequent conversations to be had outside the theater about the themes and impact of Garland’s work are clearly the larger intention behind making the film.
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