Civil War movie review: Film starring Kirsten Dunst shows there’s no right or wrong side in this conflict

Alex Garland, writer-director of sci-fi/fantasy allegories like Men (2022), Annihilation (2018), and Ex Machina (2014), turns to the real world with his latest film – Civil War. Garland, who has always had a provocative approach to things, chooses journalism as the lens through which he can reflect and reflect on the horrors of war. In their civil war, it is irrelevant why the two sides are at odds; It only matters that “someone is trying to kill us, (so) we are trying to kill them”. There is no larger ethos at work here; Self-preservation is the guiding principle for these armed combatants.

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Civil War opens with an intriguing performance from the stern Kirsten Dunst. The film also marks a reunion of sorts for Kelly Spaeny (Priscilla), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Dune), and Nick Offerman (TV’s Parks and Recreation), who all appeared in Garland’s only television show, Dave’s. The standout, however, is an uncredited Jesse Plemons, who appears for less than 10 minutes as a casually rogue militia leader in a white-knuckle sequence that builds to an explosive release.

Garland is a sensory stylist, using explosive sounds and shocking imagery to recreate the disorienting and otherworldly effect of being an observer of war and its effects. Without spoiling too much, a climactic sequence replaces the sound of gunshots with the sound of a camera clicking, a heavy-handed but effective metaphor. Garland knows what he’s doing when he starts off a particularly harrowing scene with a rendition of De La Soul’s 1989 hit “No Go.” But that approach has diminishing returns when he uses multiple incompatible needles. His frequent collaborator Rob Hardy uses a combination of documentary and traditional shooting styles that keeps the audience on a knife’s edge between reality and fantasy.

This is the story of textbook Alex Garland

The civil war has already raised controversy to support the ‘both sides’ view. To be fair, the film is a Rorschach test, allowing both conservatives and liberals to see themselves as being on the righteous side. At one point, a character mentions ‘Antifa genocide’ and leaves it up to the audience to decide whether Antifa was committing genocide, or they themselves were committing genocide. Garland is also intimidated by the idea of ​​a journalist-observer. Ultimately it is unclear whether he sees journalists as heroes whose sacred duty is to record events for future generations, or as vultures who feed on the combination of suffering and sensationalism. This is the textbook Alex Garland story – asking hard questions without giving any easy answers.

The last 20 minutes of the film are thrilling

For those still looking for answers, perhaps the scariest scene in an otherwise explosive and bloody film comes when our heroes walk through a small town in Pittsburgh that is functioning normally. Children are playing in the front yards, fully dressed, and shops are operating as if the country is not on fire all around them. When asked, one of the townspeople replied that “it’s best not to get involved”. This is a very condemnable attitude towards humanity.

The final 20 minutes of the film are a wonderful journey as rebel Western forces descend on the White House in an attempt to capture the President. Garland is self-aware enough to know that even if we see the rebels as being on the ‘right side’ (only because our heroes are embedded with them), the sequence can’t help but be a reference to the storming of the Capitol on January 6. Can give rise to a building storm. Profanity is still profanity, no matter whether the reason is justified or not.