CIVIL WAR - PRETENTIOUS NONSENSE
Civil War is a dystopian war movie penned and directed by Alex Garland. The cast includes Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Sonoya Mizuno, and Nick Offerman. The storyline revolves around a group of journalists journeying through the United States amidst a rapidly intensifying Second American Civil War, which has plunged the entire nation into chaos.
In the foreseeable future, the United States is embroiled in a rapidly escalating civil war involving multiple factions, as the nation descends into a dystopian regime under its President (Offerman), now serving a third term. Respected and battle-hardened photojournalist Lee Smith (Dunst) comes to the aid of Jessie (Spaeny) , a young photographer who admires Lee, after a bombing incident in New York City.
Lee, along with her colleague Joel (Moura), embarks on a journey to Washington, D.C. with the aim of securing an exclusive interview with the President ahead of the Fourth of July celebrations, as rebel groups, including the Western Forces ("WF") from California and Texas, prepare to converge on the capital. Despite warnings about the extreme danger of the mission, their mentor, seasoned and much older reporter Sammy (McKinley Henderson), insists on joining them as they head towards the front lines in Charlottesville, Virginia. Meanwhile, Jessie eagerly tags along, aspiring to become a war journalist. Throughout the journey, Lee, Joel, and Sammy mentor Jessie, guiding her through her first experience of frontline combat and capturing the brutal urban warfare between the U.S. military and the rebellious militias.
I was very curious about this film going in. It stood to be a very relevant and poignant film, considering the current climate in the United States, and possibly an instant classic in a similar vein to Red Dawn. However, once the film was over, my notepad was nothing more than a series of questions rather than observations.
The United States has broken apart into different factions. The largest of those factions is the Western Forces which are made up of mainly California and Texas. How and why two such fundamentally different regions team up and secede from the greater United States is never explained or even hinted at. It is almost as if we have been dropped in a conversation mid-sentence with no other context. On what grounds did the extremely liberal state of California and the extremely conservative state of Texas see eye to eye? We are never told. As well as why “The Florida Alliance” seceded and failed to recruit the Carolinas to their cause. Which is the only time the “Florida Alliance” is ever mentioned in the film and, in all honesty, felt like some kind of poorly executed “Florida Man” joke. The last of the factions that is also only vaguely mentioned is the insinuation of a Maoist North Western region. No other information is offered or hinted at. Just that China seems to have an influence and possible foothold on the Pacific NorthWest of the United States.
As unsatisfying as the lack of backstory we have involving the opposing factions, the main issue that remains unresolved by the end of this movie also happens to be the most significant plot hole, revolving around the central storyline of the entire film. We are never told WHY The United States of America has been plunged into a seemingly random second Civil War. We have absolutely NO IDEA. It is never even alluded to. What we are left with is a vacuous and overtly pretentious cautionary tale snuggled not so neatly behind the amateurish and somewhat lazily constructed story of “Battle-hardened” Journalist Lee Smith.
Garland clearly made great attempts to keep the film “politically neutral”. However, this backfires tremendously leaving the audience unable to connect with any character on screen. Soldiers of various factions seem to shoot to kill indiscriminately and unprovoked without care or concern as to what side the other is on. As soon as a “soldier” or “rebel” sees any other human being, they shoot to kill. We are given no motivation whatsoever to this behavior. With comments from characters mentioning past events like the “Antifa Massacre” and statements like “Journalists are shot on site in Washington DC” adding to the list of unanswered questions. Did Antifa massacre people or was an Antifa group massacred? Why are journalists shot on site in DC? What is going on that they don’t want journalists reporting on?
The President played by the phenomenal Nick Offerman is seen for roughly thirty seconds in the entire film. You do hear him occasionally on the radio giving grandiose diatribes similar to that of Kate Winslet on “The Regime”. The only thing missing was him addressing the citizens as “My Loves”. We know that the WF is closing in on The White House and they will kill the President as soon as they get to him and that clearly the audience is supposed to support this. What we do not know is WHY. WHY does this sitting President deserve to die? What has he done that was so heinous that it balkanized the United States and left a country that was founded upon the principles of Due Process, ready to toss those principles aside entirely and murder its leader on site? WHAT WAS IT? Also, why and HOW did he secure a THIRD Presidential term? How did that happen? Who was ok with completely ignoring the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution? Was that the catalyst of the Civil War? Is that what we are to believe is worthy of a death sentence??? The fact that this situation is made to appear so plausible and easily accomplished is appalling and concerning that anyone would believe it to be so. What exactly was it that this man did???
If that wasn’t enough open-ended questions left about the main “villain” of this film, there is also the fact that he is literally just hanging out in the Oval Office of the White House by himself with only one aide with him while enemy forces close in. No one else. Just him and an aide. As if the President of the United States doesn’t have a million and one contingency plans for this exact situation. Or the White House doesn’t have multiple panic rooms, bunkers and secret underground tunnels to quickly get the President to safety. The WF, along with the remaining journalists easily gain entry to the White House , find a mewling President sitting at his desk in the Oval Office and then quickly and easily dispatches him.
Nothing about this film was able to make any sense to me. Not the factions, The President, the vague “we’re just supposed to nod pretentiously and say “yes, yes. This is what is going to happen if INSERT NAME HERE is in power.” Certainly not “Battle-Hardened” Journalist Lee Smith. Who after spending the entire film flexing her “battle-hardenedness”, randomly and without reason begins to panic and lose her grip at the end of the film. What happened to her that made her this way? What triggered her panic? None of it makes any sense, and we are never given any reason to relate to any of the characters or develop any emotional investment in anything in this movie.
Are we, the audience, meant to be “unbiased journalists” simply observing and forming no opinion one direction or the other? Is that why we are given no rhyme or reason to anything? Whatever the purpose behind the vague and vapid content (or lack thereof ) in this film, it clearly sees itself as a “Red Dawn” for this age and wants to say something, but has no idea what it is. That fact that it seems to insinuate that you should just know, and if you don’t, you’re part of the problem is as out of touch as it is insulting.
This film is an insult to American audiences. Especially the Midwest. This absolutely does not represent us. Rural Americans would in no way just run around indiscriminately killing one another for some vague reason, or a singular person sitting in an office thousands of miles away just because someone they don’t know told them they should. Rural America just wants to be left alone while we supply most of your food and live their lives. And the filmmakers would know that had they ever so much as visited rural America even once. Case in point, Young Jesse, who is supposed to be from Missouri, is asked why it’s called the Show-Me State. She says “I don’t know.” Anyone from Missouri will instantly and instinctually respond to that question with “Because you’ve got to SHOW ME!” It’s almost a reflex for us, and sums up our ideology perfectly. We believe NOTHING unless we witness it for ourselves.
Civil War is an insulting waste of time and money and I do not recommend it. There was a huge opportunity missed to make a great piece of cinema that could have spoken to millions. Instead it perpetuates an idea that Americans are big, dumb, violent animals that look for any excuse to commit random acts of violence and murder. Save your time, read a history book instead.
CIVIL WAR in theaters everywhere.
