Alex Garland is one of my favourite filmmakers working today. He started out as a writer, delivering some fantastic work in 28 Days Later, Sunshine, and Never Let Me Go. In 2014 he made his directorial debut with Ex Machina, a film that I consider a near masterpiece in the sci-fi genre, then followed that up with the sci-fi horror Annihilation which I also love. In 2022 he wrote and directed Men, a film that I enjoyed especially on a visual level but one which unfortunately caused tons of people to unfairly write him off. Thanks to that, many looked at this new film with skepticism, but luckily Garland has once again treated us to a hit.
Civil War follows Lee (Kirsten Dunst), a photo journalist specializing in war photography who alongside her co-worker Joel (Wagner Moura), colleague (Stephen McKinley Henderson), and an aspiring photographer (Cailee Spaeny), travels down towards Washington D.C. in the midst of an American civil war. Despite the premise, Garland opts to avoid any right vs. left narrative, delivering instead a pretty centrist political stance. Many online are taking issue with this, but I found it to be a pretty essential piece to the story as Garland isn't trying to make something that tells the viewer how to feel about either side of the political spectrum. It is instead a film about the horrors of war, in this case placed into a familiar setting, and of the morally complex yet deeply important profession of war journalism.
Obviously an anti-war message is nothing new or overly deep, we have seen countless films portray the horrors of war over the years, but most are set elsewhere. While Garland's war is a fictional one, it contextualizes what the kinds of conflict we see overseas nowadays could look like in a contemporary American setting. More unique to this film is the focus on photo journalism in these contexts. Garland paints a pretty fascinating portrait of the profession here. He showcases the importance of these kinds of journalists in shedding light on tough subjects, as well as the bravery required to dive into these dangerous situations to do their job. On the other side though, he does a great job of showing the morally questionable side of the job, with these characters constantly chasing the thrill and acting in unethical and de-sensitized manners to get the "perfect shot," putting into question the real motives behind their work. It's a pretty fascinating look at them, and this analysis is made more interesting by how well written the characters are. I found myself caring deeply about each of the four, almost causing a Nightcrawler effect where we have characters that come across as charismatic and likeable but are deeply flawed morally.
Selling these characters is an ensemble of truly terrific performances. Kirsten Dunst in the lead delivers some of her best work. She is very stoic here but has an interesting arc over the course of the film making her more quiet performance hit really well. The star for me is Cailee Spaeny. I liked her a lot in Priscilla but I thought she was phenomenal here, having the fun excitement of someone trying to work her way into something, then showing devastating fear when the reality of the job comes into play. Wagner Moura is another highlight, playing a character that is very much chasing the rush of the job, but his fun and free attitude is given more depth in the films darker moments where we see him basically screaming his lungs out after a tragedy. Stephen McKinley Henderson isn't necessarily doing anything groundbreaking by his standards, but he's great in everything so this is just another great job by him. Jesse Plemons is without question the best performer outside of those four. He only appears in one scene but genuinely gives one of the most tense and chilling performances I've seen in some time. His scene is one of a few that are just ridiculously tense.
From a technical standpoint there is a ton to love here. The production design bringing this war to life is really strong, taking America as we knowing but throwing it through a dystopian lens. The sound is great throughout, with the sounds of war perfectly captured and some scenes making a deeply effective use of silence. The last act of the film is where the combat really takes center stage and it's quite well done. It can be occasionally tough to follow but it is some brutal stuff and makes for a great climax. My biggest issue with the film is some musical choices. There are a few needle drops that I think take away from the tone, not even necessarily due to the songs themselves but thanks largely to how they are edited in. They just undercut some pretty tense moments too abruptly. I have some issues with the ending and that approach to the music is a large part of it, but these are really nitpicks in what I consider a pretty great film.
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