411: Civil War

[00:00:00] 118. Let's get to the new film Civil War, which is currently now on video purchase and rental. It's A24 produced, written and directed by Alex Garland, stars Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Mora, Kaylee Spaney, Nick Offerman, Jefferson White, Nelson Lee.

[00:00:21] A decent cast and there are a few people that pop up here and there. And the synopsis is a journey across a dystopian future America following a team of military embedded journalists as they race against time to reach DC

[00:00:35] before rebel factions descend upon the White House. So when this one was announced I think it was pretty like oh dang like this is gonna be a pretty wild movie considering the current political climate and Alex Garland I've been a fan

[00:00:50] of for a long time ever since Ex Machina which I still think is his best movie to date but I've really enjoyed everything that he's done Annihilation, Men and some of the scripts that he's written for other directors. But I was

[00:01:05] very very curious about this one heard a lot of buzz. I am a big fan of just in general political war military stories and films and I think that this is a very pretty unsettling yet refreshing story and I think that in this day and

[00:01:23] age there's a lot to say and there's a lot of what-ifs and and all that so I think it came at the right time at least in some ways and I think it's pretty impressive for the ground that it covers, the scope of the world, showing you

[00:01:40] different little parts of the US and how it's turned, trying to express or explain the different states who have come together and different groups and all that and I think for the most part it seems fairly scarily so realistic like

[00:01:56] you could see this happening if things went a certain way and I do really like how they focused on the journalists. It's not here let's do this side of the Civil War or this side it's let's do the neutral party which is the journalists

[00:02:12] and so I think and also just being a fan of journalism and having a huge respect for that and journalists who really embed themselves in not necessarily just war but very dangerous situations in order to tell certain stories so the rest of

[00:02:27] us can know I have that most respect for those people so that was another interesting hook as well and I know it's done very well financially I think it's A24's second most highest grossing movie to date and not only that but I know

[00:02:45] some people have not been fans of it like at least on Letterboxd I've been reading some people say this is a very impressive movie in scale and production but it says nothing it's not the right movie for this time period it doesn't

[00:02:58] have enough to say on this or that so it's not good it's the wrong movie to have out right now and I think that in some ways I can see why people would feel that way perhaps but at the same time I think knowing Alex Garland's work

[00:03:13] and how he directs how he writes and being A24 it doesn't feel empty to me it in some ways sure could have had more commentary on certain things but at the same time I think from what I got is it's really a representation a what-if

[00:03:32] scenario of here's the world at this point in time you know it's not if you do this if you don't do this this is gonna happen and say hey if things go wrong if things go down a certain road this could be the reality we live in and

[00:03:46] not too far in the future so I think that by itself is commentary it doesn't need to have some huge prologue or epilogue or anything else in that sort of realm because I think the world that it's presenting is what you need to see

[00:04:07] and there are other directors other storytellers who could tell other stories but I think it's okay to have a film told in this way and so for what it sets out to do I think it accomplishes that but even so I think it

[00:04:24] does have some to say on how certain people within a country can turn when a war happens like certain ideas certain extremists how quickly things can go from bad to worse in that way and how things can go from illegal to well no

[00:04:44] one's here to say no to me I'm gonna do what I feel is right for myself and for my country and then also considering Kaylee Spaney who I think is great I loved her and Priscilla I think she's a great up-and-coming actor her being this

[00:04:59] very young innocent journalist learning from Kirsten Dunst who is also very good and the ideas of how far would you go to tell a story to get a great photograph and who are you willing to take photos of and in what situations that and I

[00:05:18] won't spoil it but being even willing to double-cross people and to capture moments when it's not really I wouldn't say it's ethically or morally sound at least to the outsider so again overall I thought it was solid not my favorite of

[00:05:38] Alex Garland's I think I still like both Ex Machina and Annihilation more maybe this will grow on me over time but for now one of the better films I've seen this year for sure and it is worth watching because it is fairly unique as

[00:05:53] I said in a lot of ways and I think the urban warfare scenario is pretty underused in movies for some reason but I think there's a lot of good variety you can have with urban warfare from a cinematic perspective and indoor outdoor

[00:06:08] on the streets and I think for the budget that this movie has it utilizes that very well so there's a lot of reasons you should watch it not an easy watch it is scary to think about but it definitely left a mark so that one is a

[00:06:23] heavy four out of five