Civil War, produced by A24 directed by Alex Garland explores commentary on our current social climate and where we are headed. The film is intense and feels too realistic to not be taken seriously.
The film takes place in an America that is divided into four powers engaged in a civil war. Two of which have gone as far as to be separatist, departing from the United States. The situation is portrayed to be urgent and filled with political tension.
This movie is truly anxiety inducing and will have you on the edge of your seat. The intention of the movie is clearly to serve as a warning, to make the audience fearful of the realistic possibility that this film could become some kind of reality. The immoral acts that are witnessed in this film spark fear, disgust, and hatred into viewers. Many pieces of this film leave viewers uneasy as they watch what are essentially acts of violence and riots that currently occur in this country, only scaled up.
The imagery is hauntingly disturbing. The deaths and special effects used to detail them look incredibly real. The sets used were familiar and created largely to leave viewers thinking “This movie looks hard to make.” The realism adds so much to the impact. Watching people that are introduced as regular people, whether or not they were involved in acts of violence, be brutally murdered in militant ways, is jarring. It showed how America could devolve into a state that is almost like guerilla warfare, ruled by violent militias. Murder and dead bodies are everywhere in this film, rarely are they not on screen. Every single case of this gives a glimpse into the state that the country has come to, the inhumanity that stems from political differences.
The colors are truly beautiful with contrasts of bright colors amongst a more neutral war-time color scheme. Elements of framing create a more dramatic and emotional feeling.
The film utilizes important and well known American architecture to add to the personal and scary possibilities of the warnings the film is sharing.
The acting in this movie was impeccable as the actors did a wonderful job of conveying every feeling through their expressions. The film follows a group of photojournalists and their journey traveling through America to get graphics for a story. They encounter many challenges and are filled with emotional devastation everywhere they stop. There are several times where the ethics of photojournalism are questioned.
The sound track was amazing and fit well with the movie. Some scenes seemed almost as if they were music videos as the music fully engulfed all other audio adding dramatic effect to the intense content.
Although the film served as a close warning, the lack of political stance and background came off as a very cowardly move. The movie lacked depth and seemed hollow. Alex Garland wasted potential by keeping the film safe and focusing more on the apocalyptic aspects than actually creating a deeper meaning. The idea to keep the characters out of political swaying seems reasonable to appeal to a wider audience. However, not mentioning how the civil war started, how the United States was divided, and what each side stood for, made it confusing. Though this was obviously an attempt to unite people of opposite political views, everyone will think that they are the “good guys”, leading them to demonize those who do not agree with their political views.
This film was certainly enthralling and action-packed. The idea of a new age American civil war is certainly eye-opening and disturbing to say the least. However, this particular take on this realistic dystopia packed shock value, but it fell short of a true message. Overall, we give this film a 3.6 out of 5 stars.
