Alex Garland is one of my favorite directors in the business, so getting a new Alex Garland film, a new Denis Villeneuve film, and a new Robert Eggers film this year has made me so excited! Two of the three have come out, Dune Part II and now Civil War, and they are my first and second ranked films of the year respectively. So I was beyond thrilled that this film did not disappoint, and getting to see it in IMAX made it even better, thus amplifying the great sound and incredible visuals.
Going into the movie, I thought that this was going to be a broader war picture about the U.S fighting itself, but what it ended up being was so much better than I could have imagined. It centered on four members of the press as they went on a road trip through the ravages of America. They start out somewhere in Pennsylvania, and their goal is to make it down to Washington D.C before the Western States take over and eliminate the president. Of course, driving through war torn America never goes as planned, and there are multiple hiccups and stops along the way.
The two main ladies, one played by Kirsten Dunst and the other played by Cailee Spaeny, were war photographers, so basically, they just go wherever there is action, and try to take pictures of it. Dunst’s character is the aged and hardened veteran, whereas Spaeny’s character is new on the scene, and she does not even have the protective equipment to be prepared for the job, but Dunst’s partner invites her along with them anyway, so on their road trip, they have a newbie, Spaeny, two seasoned veterans, Dunst and Wagner Moura, and one journalist, who was on his last legs, Stephen McKinley Henderson, two guys and two girls, and the dynamic between the four of them is great.
Initially, Spaeny’s character is so green, that she can barely function. When they are in the middle of a gun fight, Moura’s character has her Kevlar vest in his hand like a child on a leash, as he pushes and pulls her to help keep her safe and mobile, but there is an interesting switch flipped as the movie progresses. In the final fight, when they make it to the capital, initially, Dunst’s character is the one that seems shook, and she is now the one being dragged around by her vest like a dog, and Spaeny is the one being way too bold to get a good shot, but when it comes time to make the big decision, Dunst’s instincts hold true, and she shows why she is the veteran in the business.
One of the unique parts of the film is the integration of the photos taken into the action. If one of the two took a photo during the action, it would be spliced into the film, and the one second that it was on the screen, the sound of the chaos around them would disappear, and then immediately come right back when the video resumed. It also added to the duality of the two photographers as well, Spaeny’s character, although younger, used a film camera that shot in black and white, but Dunst’s character used a beautiful new Sony camera, and she shot in color. Both took numerous shots that would no doubt be powerful if seen on the news. I do wonder if Garland used the photos that the two actresses took, or if he had a professional come and take them.
The photos are not the only great visuals in this movie. Alex Garland is one of my favorite directors, because he is able to take visuals that would usually be beautiful and make them horrifying. Annihilation is one of my favorite movies of all time, mainly because of his ability to blend nature’s beauty with violence and horrific imagery. In each of his movies, there is at least one scene that is burned into my brain. Annihilation has a few, so it is a tougher choice, but I would have to go with when the guy has his stomach cut open, and his intestines are slithering like snakes. Absolutely haunting. For Ex Machina, it is the interview scenes, especially when the power goes out, and the red lights come on. It just becomes so tense in those moments, but it is taking place in a house that Frank Lloyd Wright would be proud of. For Men, I want to say the tunnel scene with the cool echo when the silhouette starts chasing her, but the last scene of the men continually giving birth to other men in an endless gross and explicit scene that feels like it lasts forever cannot be beat. The one scene that will live with me the most from this film involves Jesse Plemmons conducting an interrogation in front of a mass grave of freshly dumped bodies.
In this movie, Garland takes many old graffitied structures, places that I personally find beautiful and photogenic, and he turns them into war zones, either where fighting is happening or where people are taking refuge from the violence. Also the numerous dead bodies were done in a way that was gruesome and had a sense of reality that caused concern over the action instead of encouragement like a normal action movie. There are also many scenes that take place out in nature and in the daylight, where atrocities of war are taking place, but the birds are chirping in the background.
So this brings us to the sound design, which was also incredible. As mentioned during photography scenes, the sound would cut out when an image was put up, but also there were multiple times, when they would end a normal scene, and then BANG! A gun shot would be fired, and in the IMAX level sound, it would immediately jolt me. It was almost like a jump scare. The sound by itself is violent. Most of the fighting scenes are so loud and frantic, but Garland would also contrast them at times, and he would play a soft easy listening song over the violence. Duality plays in large role in his films, not just this one.
There were multiple moments in this film, where the tension was so heightened that I felt like I could not move, especially the closer it got to the end. The scene with Jesse Plemons interrogating the group is the tensest. Plemmons has his machine gun ready to shoot any one of them if they answer in a way he does not like, and it makes you breath slower and grip the arm rest on your chair a little bit tighter. The same can be said for the attack on the capital. It is just expert film making, and I could not take my eyes off the screen.
My biggest gripe with the film is the total lack of Nick Offerman. He plays a key role in the trailer, so I assumed he would be a big player in the movie, but he is basically in the movie for the same amount of time that he is in the trailer. So we get him very briefly at the beginning to set the narrative, and then we get him at the end to finish the story. The movie was great without an added presence from him, but he is a favorite, so I would have loved to have more time with him in this serious role, but his absence also added to the mystique of the film. There is a Civil War occurring, but as the audience, we are never told what exactly caused California and Texas to succeed from the union, so there are battle lines drawn, but the motivation is unclear.
This does make the movie more sellable though. If there is not a clear conservative verse liberal rhetoric, it helps make it a little more appealing to everyone. There is no clear antagonist other than the violence itself. Another way in which they help this cause is by saying that Texas and California succeeded together, and those seem like two very diametrically opposed states. So in the end to me it is more of an anti-war/what are you willing to sacrifice for your job film. The depiction of violence in this film for the most part is visceral and gory. It presents with a somber tone, it is not like John Wick, where the higher the body count is the better, and the visuals really help to relay this message.
Also, as journalists, they have to give up a large amount for their jobs. They are constantly traveling and, on the road, and they are putting themselves in danger, and in the case of war photographers it is a life-or-death situation. Another part of film that stuck with me with was when they got pinned down by a sniper, and they were with two soldiers, and Moura asked the soldiers which side they were on, and the guy with the gun said whatever the other side of the sniper is, because he is trying to kill us. At the end of the day, when it comes to war, the people fighting are just trying to stay alive, it is not about what side they are on, it is just survival.
This is one of those movies that when it ended, I just sat there and was like woah! It does such a good job of pacing itself, and slowly ramping up the stakes and the action. The sound design and visuals were amazing, and that helps to ratchet up the tension. The 108 minutes fly by, and the actors all give incredible performances, even the ones with the smaller roles like Plemmons and Offerman. Sadly, Garland said that he might not direct another film for a while, which is a shame and massively disappointing. This is my second-best movie of the year, and I highly recommend seeing it in IMAX. I gave it 4.5 Stars!
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