Civil War
A24’s Civil War is the eeriest movie I’ve seen all year. A24 has another banger on their hands…literally. The cast was full of stars and soon-to-be stars so I had high expectations going into the film. What I didn’t expect was for this movie to really “boom” like it did. What I mean by that is the sound design for this film was epic. When I think about this movie I don’t immediately think of what I saw but what I heard. If you ask me, that says a lot about Alex Garland’s approach when directing this movie. They cultivated a feeling that in some ways you can’t put into words, you have to experience it. It’s almost like the old saying goes “You just had to be there.”
This movie is set at the tail end of a civil war in the modern-day United States. Surprisingly they never really go into why the war even started. This story follows a group of photojournalists. Documenting the Civil War on both sides of the conflict as they travel to Washington, DC. Now obviously a good portion of the movie is surrounding the actual war. But this movie is about seeing all forms and facets of the human condition. These journalists willingly risk it all to document life and to be honest death in this Civil War.
This movie leaves me with conflicting feelings. Not so much towards what happened on screen. Just with the notion of what are you willing to accept. We see each character go through a series of emotions. We see them disassociate with the world around them to cope with the chaos happening around them. These are all things that go unsaid too. Which speaks to the brilliance of the cinematography and production of this film. It’s the combination of all those things that creates the flow state you experience on screen.
The amount of tension you feel in this movie from moment to moment is immense. They edited this movie to include all the photos taken at the moment. Even the dynamic between the soldiers and the press was impressive. They garnered a level of respect because they both put their lives on the line each day to do what they do. Regardless of which side they were on. Now I will say that not all of the people who had guns had the same mindset. I mean if they did then there probably wouldn’t be a Civil War in the first place.
Overall I don’t have any major complaints about this movie. Granted, you can tell that special effects are not where they spent their money. But they got the point across that there was major warfare going down across the way. Outside of that, I have to say that this is probably one of the hardest reviews I’ve ever had to write. Not because it is hard to explain or because of the subject matter. This movie just drives you to think deeper. It is the small things that you notice at a second glance that put this movie into perspective. Which is what makes this road trip so poetic. You could see something so normal and then at a second glance get hit with the reality that this country is at war. This movie is a masterpiece which is why I have to give it a 10/10.
