Civil War (2024) (Movie Review)

Civil War (2024) And another dystopia! Yippee, tra la la!!! I thought it might be fun to watch this film on the plane. Alas, I was more bored than anything else, as you can imagine!

Kirsten Dunst, an excellent actress, finds herself here in a rather empty role that doesn’t really suit her. If you don’t know her, you’d think that anyone could have played this role. But it’s interesting to see what role she agreed to play here, after a break.

Cailee Spaeny is quite in vogue at the moment. She appeared in the last Alien (Alien: Romulus). I haven’t seen her in Priscilla (2023) yet, but I will, sooner or later. I’m not a fan of Pacific Rim 2 (2018) and I don’t remember her there. On the other hand, I do remember that Bad Time at the El Royale (2018) was a no-brainer with an excellent cast, though.

I would have loved to say something along the lines of “This movie is a must see! The actors were great is this unusual road movie. Those expecting a Marvel Civil War movie will be disappointed. Yes, those who come from the Marvel multiverse of superheroes won’t understand or enjoy this film either. A great film, in the tradition of the best American political cinema of the 1970s, with the touch of a director who is demanding in his subjects and in his treatment of them.” Unfortunately, this is not the case.

The film is about photojournalism. The cinematography and visual language are enormous, of course. Those in the know will say that the 4k version is fantastically beautiful and the Atmos sound is absolutely clear. For my part, I’m still going to grumble, grumpily saying something like: “That’s brave! I don’t understand why people still make films like this today. Totally boring.”

In terms of content, however, we can draw certain parallels with the current political situation in America. That’s not too bad. At the same time, despite its evocative power, Civil War sorely lacks a political perspective on its subject. At the same time, the film manages to do too much and not enough at the same time. For those who loved it, Civil War will be one of those films that won’t easily be forgotten for its chilling, nihilistic and controlled portrait of an America in the grip of chaos. Everything about it is madness, the madness of the men who make war and the madness of those who want to witness it. And yet, although the subject is certainly daring, powerful and terrifying, the film remains totally inoffensive and often boring. As someone who doesn’t really like giving bad reviews, I feel compelled to do so when I see this film’s excellent rating. It’s because I wanted to find out more and read about this film that I understood things.

But on first viewing, I thought that the conflict made no sense. In fact, I even wondered if I’d missed something! Incessant gunfire that makes no sense whatsoever, a White House under siege, its door wide open with just two bodyguards, a President waiting in his Oval Office to be executed.

In short, for me this film is hollow and, despite some impressive war footage, was a waste of time. What exactly are they fighting for and who are they fighting for? We don’t understand a thing and we’re just left to follow two journalists chasing the goriest image. And that’s why it’s a piece of rubbish. Shocking for the sake of shocking, nothing more, has never made a good film. As if today’s society needed more gratuitous violence. There isn’t any throughout the film, which aims to show us the intertwined destinies of two female photographers. But let’s not forget that photography is a world of delicacy, subtlety and interpretation that seeks to convey an emotion, an opinion, an idea or a message. Did they really think that viewers sensitive to this means of expression were going to be satisfied with the staggering emptiness that surrounds this film? Yes, there are those (including this writer) who find the result appalling.

Alex Garland’s film is a ambitious affair in which visual overkill attempts (in vain) to conceal the emptiness of the subject matter. The director recently announced that he wanted to give up directing, which isn’t necessarily a bad idea!

I found this review very hasty: “A film that is both insignificant in the primary sense of the term and particularly unhealthy.” Another reviewer said: “Left in the middle of the film because I’m sick of seeing people slaughtering each other without knowing why, all under the photographic eye of a Kirsten Dunst who has less expression than an oyster that’s been squirted with lemon. There are so many better things when it comes to war films.” A third reviews said: “No script, looking like a trailer for a video game with lots of unconvincing CGI. The young photojournalist is ridiculous.” These criticisms complete mine even more brutally. So there you have it.

My Rating