Civil War (2024) * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Alex Garland

Starring:  Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Jesse Plemons, Nick Offerman, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson

Civil War is a movie that thinks it can only get a little bit pregnant.  The movie focuses on a future United States Civil War in which Texas and California both seceded from the Union, join forces, and take on the rest of the states, who in turn start battling with each other over those who support the Union and those who support the "Western Forces".  The idea that Texas and California would unite on anything brings about an unintentional laugh.  But, Civil War avoids discussing ideologies and why the states are feuding in the first place.   It's a movie about a war that wants to reflect on the current political climate while remaining neutral.  That is a noble idea which doesn't translate to a compelling narrative.  There is no one to root for, or against.  

The President of the United States of Civil War is a dictator who abolished the 22nd amendment and is serving for life.  He is known to have media members killed and has a limited vocabulary, so I'm assuming he's modeled after Donald Trump.  However, I am not one who believes he would have media members killed.  Civil War involves grizzled, cynical photojournalist Lee Smith (Dunst) who has seen the horrors of war up close and took pictures of it.  She and reporter Joel (Moura) went to trek from New York (which is nearly vacant) to Washington, DC in hopes of interviewing the president before the Western Forces take over.  Joel is a reporter, so we're told, but I'll be damned if I ever see him with a notebook or a microphone.  For all I knew, he was just the guy who drove Lee around.

Accompanying Lee are amateur photographer Jessie (Spaeny), who sees Lee as an influence and mentor, and Sammy (Henderson), who works for the New York Times.  Dunst looks like someone who hasn't had much sleep.  I wanted to find her a bed to crash on.  One thing this civil war accomplished was getting rid of traffic jams.  There is hardly anyone on the road.  The one time they encounter any burnt-out shells of vehicles are on one stretch of highway borrowed from War of the Worlds.  

Civil War meanders while trying to assume its own importance, but the only scene with any dramatic impact involves Jesse Plemons (Dunst's real-life husband) who is burying a group of bodies in a pit and asks each member of Lee's team where they're from.  The wrong answer (i.e. not in the United States) would likely get you killed.   But once Plemons' cameo is over, the movie goes right back to being dull.  When Lee and company arrive in Washington for the big showdown between Western Forces and the Union forces, we have roughly six soldiers per side battling in front of what is clearly a set.  The fate of the free world rests in the hands of two small groups of soldiers.  

Civil War means to be impactful and thought-provoking, but the only thoughts I experienced were how absurd it was.  You never get the feeling there is a bigger war going on outside, but to me Civil War seems like a movie wanting to make a large point on a smaller budget, but doesn't succeed.