On the fuzzy intensity of Alex Garland’s ‘Civil War’

Before its release, the speculation around “Civil War” centered on the underlying politics of the dystopian war film, set in a near-future United States.

In such a polarized national climate, during an election year no less, there was genuine worry that Alex Garland’s film would stoke further division.

The movie itself attempts to sidestep all the details about its fictional America, as Garland, the acclaimed filmmaker behind “Ex Machina” and “Annihilation,” has said he wanted the movie to be an apolitical warning of sorts about violent division. Here, the unnamed president (played by Nick Offerman) is fighting against the “Western Forces,” comprised of Texas and California. Washington, D.C., is about to fall, and four journalists want the chance to interview and photograph the president before his likely capture.

A road movie comprised of a series of increasingly tense and horrifying vignettes, “Civil War” most focuses on Lee, a renowned wartime photojournalist, hauntingly played by Kirsten Dunst. Lee’s stoic demeanor has kept her alive through many war zones, though she reluctantly begins to mentor another young photographer, Jesse, played by “Priscilla” breakout Cailee Spaeny. Also along for the drive to D.C. is adrenaline-junkie Joel (Wagner Moura) and a veteran journalist named Sammy, played by the great character actor Stephen McKinley Henderson.

Opinions will vary about Garland’s decision to remove nearly all context to the film’s fictional conflict, though the movie sprinkles some notable details in between its intense battle sequences (including the fact that the president is in his third term). In place of plot details, Garland and the production team inject “Civil War” with some unusual and effective creative choices. The soundtrack features a few pop songs played over somber and/or disturbing imagery, and the photographs taken by Lee and Jesse appear onscreen occasionally to break the momentum of the film’s bombastic visuals during battles.

Modern warfare is nothing new for Hollywood, but the sound design of “Civil War,” particularly in its last half hour, presents a deeply unsettling, borderline trauma-inducing experience. Nothing about what happens resembles the playful gunplay in something like “John Wick.” The last act of this movie left this reviewer, someone who has seen countless violent war films, shook and frozen in his seat for several minutes after the credits, especially as the film lingers on a particularly haunting image.

For Garland, perhaps it was enough to rattle his audience into an emotional state that mirrors PTSD. Indeed, seeing this type of violence unfold over familiar American iconography serves as a sufficient warning to avoid the kind of political upheaval that breeds such bloodletting. However, the movie’s distorted depiction of Lee and her colleagues complicates the exercise. Garland frames the action to focus on the heroic acts of journalists who risk their lives to expose the truth, but then his characters also seem driven by less-than-noble motivations. Surely, there’s something to be said about those who mask their apathetic thrill-seeking as journalism, but the movie casts those ideas aside for lengthy gun battles.

There’s a difference between withholding information so audiences can draw their own conclusions and withholding information for the sake of convenience. In this regard, “Civil War” relies on a few too many narrative shortcuts, all in ways that would spoil the film’s second half.

Even with those fundamental flaws, “Civil War” is an unforgettable experience, if not an entirely successful one. At the very least, the film contains one truly masterful sequence. It involves Jesse Plemons in an uncredited role as a sadistic soldier the journalists meet on the road. “What kind of American are you?” is the key question of the sequence, and in that moment, Garland’s intentions are chillingly explicit.

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Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.

    This image released by A24 shows a scene from "Civil War."
  

    This image released by A24 shows Cailee Spaeny, left, and Kirsten Dunst in a scene from "Civil War."