Good But Not Great

(050224) Civil War is a strong and fairly absorbing speculative fiction film which takes place in a dystopian America not too far in the future. The film tries to imagine what would happen if several regions (in this case parts of California, Florida, and Texas) formed an alliance and tried to overthrow the American government. Since parts of the tech wealthy part of California are becoming increasingly isolationist and libertarian this premise is not as far fetched as it once was.

The film, which is partially a cautionary tale about what could happen if the country’s fragmentation continues is also a portrait of journalistic methods. It should not be confused with the Marvel U’s Captain America: Civil War which was at least partially a commentary on the Patriot Act and Immigration policies.

Civil War is packed with horrific graphic action scenes. The film is gorier than many horror films, but this violence never seems excessive or over the top, and the carnage has its place in this context. But if the sight of severed body parts and blood spurting makes you sick this may not be the film for you. The kids should not see this either.

Although the film tries extremely hard to not to obviously pick political sides, it is impossible not to think of the siege in 2020 during the climax in which Trump supporting insurrectionists violated and invaded the White House claiming that Trump won the election. I am sure it is no accident that the film is being released during the current presidential election cycle. We are clearly supposed to disapprove of the actions of both the fictional invaders and their real-life counterparts. But in the film, we never really learn their political motives.

So far, Civil War has gotten great word of mouth and has done spectacularly well at the box office. It was the number one film on the week of its release. It also gained massive (at least initially) critical acclaim. But while the film was skillfully done and engaging, I did not think it came close to being a masterpiece. As a movie about journalism, it never reaches the heights of say All the President’s Men (1976), Almost Famous (2000), or Spotlight (2015).

Civil War was directed by the English born Alex Garland and the film made me wonder if this is how the typical Englishman sees America. Garland established himself by writing two impressive films: 28 Days Later (2002) and Dredd (2022). Then he went on to direct the excellent sci thriller, Ex Machina (2014), a groundbreaking film about a relationship between a make human and female artificial being which was probably his best film. Finally, he did the disturbing and stylish Annihilation (2018). Garland is part of a new wave of genre film makers that materialized in the last 20 years who tend to excel at sci-fi such as Dennis Villaneuve. Christopher Nolan, Duncan Jones, and perhaps Zach Snyder and James Gunn if you count their sci-fi superhero films.

The film was put out by A24 which has released and made some of the best and most daring films of the decade. But while it is certainly competent, I do not think this is anywhere as idiosyncratically brilliant as such A24 films as Moon Light (2016), The Lobster (2016), The Souvenir (2019), or Everything Everywhere all at Once (2022). When I see an A 24, I expect something special not just a good mainstream film, and this film lacks that magical something extra that would elevate it into becoming something truly special. This is the most expensive A24 film, yet which might explain why it takes less risks than all the others.

Civil War has a strong ensemble cast including Wagner Moura (Elysium), playing a South American born journalist, Wagner, and Stephen McKinley Henderson (Beau is Afraid) as a likeable South American journalist. But the clear standout is Kristin Dunst playing Lee Smith. Dunst was in Bring it On, The Virgin Suicides and The Power of the Dog, but her finest moment was in Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia. Almost as good is her bright rising co-star Cailee Spaeny who was in Priscila, the recent Elvis related biopic, and she’ll next be in the upcoming Alien Romulus as well.

Their two characters have a strong mentor/student relationship. Lee Smith (Dunst) is a top-notch photographer who is known for going further than anyone else in taking pics of horrible human atrocities including a fictional event called the “Antifa massacre".“She goes to cover the story with a group of other journalists. She ends up taking along a young woman named Jessie (Spaeny) who has hopes to become a war photographer.

Jessie presses Lee to take her under her wing and at first, she wants nothing to do with her. Lee is going to interview the president, but he might get killed or overthrown soon, and she is afraid that Jessica will drag her down or get hit in the crossfire (if superheroes really existed it would be foolhardy and irresponsible for them to have teen sidekicks).

When Jessie is on the road with several other journalists, taking a tour through the carnage, she finds out how difficult the profession is. The crew witnesses horrible acts of violence and as tempted as they are to intervene and save people that are being killed they must be impassive and keep taking photos. Above all the events must be recorded at any cost. In some sense they must turn off the parts of their brain that cause empathy so that that can distance themselves to do their job,

The film loses some of its power because of its stubborn refusal to politically take sides. It gives us no specific details in the political conflict. Giving the violence a context would have raised the stakes and made the film more intellectually and emotionally engrossing. Although the film kept my interest at all times and it effectively elevates the stature of journalism, it left me partially satisfied because it left me longing to see the great film that it could have been.