Civil War
By Julz Levesque | Arts & Culture Editor
On April 26, 2024, the independent film and television company A24 released a film highlighting the significance of the press during a fictional war within the United States. Civil War, directed by Alex Garland made $122.5 million at the box office and earned an 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 7/10 on IMDb, and a 3.6 on Letterboxd. Alex Garland has had a few successful projects under his belt such as Ex Machina (2014) and Annihilation (2018). I actually haven’t gotten through either of these films completely (I knowww sue me) but I’ve heard really good things. It was a surprise to me when I watched Civil War because I found it so… lackluster in comparison to what I’ve heard about his other projects.
Civil War is a dystopian near-future story that follows a small group of war photographers and journalists through their road trip from New York City to Washington D.C. They rush against time and rebel factions in hopes of getting a shot of the president before violence ensues in the White House. The United States becomes a warzone in this fictional look at America’s decaying nation of freedom. States join forces as they become powerful forces. The American people are divided and everyone is the enemy.
I can’t say I loved the film. I thought that the message was painfully one-dimensional and reminded me of films like Don’t Look Up (2021) and Leave The World Behind (2023); In the sense that the writing had a very blatant political or social stance without ever delving deeper than just stating the obvious. I felt that while I was watching Civil War I had been watching the same film that has been reiterated over and over again in this new wave of really annoying rich people telling us how dystopian the world is without failing to realize they’re the main cause of that. The world-building in this film had no depth to it and to me, it was like the audience had to rely on the promotional teasers of the film to understand what was going on in the conflict rather than the film telling us itself. The only thing about this film that was compelling to me was the relationship between the professional photojournalist Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst) and starstruck young photojournalist Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) and even then the demise of Lee Smith seemed extremely predictable. Although the performances of the leads were spectacular I felt it could not save the shallow writing Civil War offered. I was disappointed with this film because it had such a solid idea but it took no risks in saying anything important.
What I did enjoy about this film was how it focused on the press… I mean obviously, since I work for the paper. Not only did Civil War show the importance of photojournalism but it showed the lengths that people will go for a story. It portrayed journalism in a light that not only focused on the passion and ambition of journalists but also the darker side of capturing bleak moments and I felt it even shed light on how journalism can be exploitative. The cinematography was sharp and knew when to capture slow moments versus fast action sequences. This I felt, helped the overall atmosphere and message that a moment is fleeting, and within a nanosecond, an image can pass before being captured on camera. We are transported into the shoes of our photographers as they try to shoot their targets.
All in all, I don’t think this film should be on the top of your viewing list. The strong performances unfortunately do not save the otherwise flat and forgettable story. However, if you do want to check it out, Civil War is now available through streaming sites like HBO Max, Hulu, YouTube TV, Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV.