This is my brief intake on the new movie Civil War but before I do this here is an update on my second novel. I am still looking for a Copy-editor, a professional this time, whom is willing to go through my second book. One on Readsy quoted me $2,640. Now, to anyone reading this, would you pay this amount if you’d just finished your novel? Am just asking a question and this is not a critique. Consider your budget and whether you can make that money back. Would you expect to make that money back in sales. It is worth considering getting your novel professionally edited, even if you have a perfect grasp of written English.
Now with the perfunctory out the way let’s dive into the 2024 movie Civil War. I recently went to see a late night screening at the Vue Cinema. The movie was directed by Alex Garland, whom is also an author and screenwriter. You may know of his movies, Ex Machina (2014) and 28 Days Later (2002) along with 28 Weeks Later and Dredd. Also staring Kristen Dunst, well known for playing Peter Parker’s love interest, Mary Jane, in the Spider-Man movies with Tobey Maguire. other actors and ones I know very little of such as Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Nick Offerman and Stephen McKinley Henderson, whom also featured in the 2021 version Dune.
Civil War, takes place in a divided United States, where, it appears, there are three factions fighting against each other. Some would say that it is actually four factions, but to me, this wasn’t really made that clear or drummed in – and that is one of the issues I have with the movie. I am assuming that this action war movie is set in a near future and not an alternate reality. The movie is told from a journalist perspective. We have a group of journalists, whom are taking a dangerous journey from New York to Washington DC while this civil war rages on. Their goal is to reach the White House and interview the President, whom is played by Nick Offerman. Kristen Dunst is the main star who plays veteran journalist – Lee – a woman haunted by her life’s work as a war journalist. We see many heinous flashbacks of what she has witnessed behind the lens of the camera. Her character to me was remarkably stern and somewhat detached perhaps desensitised to what is happening. Her appearance is also one to be noted. In this movie she looks rather aged and fatigued, hardly surprising to what is happening but nevertheless rather beliveable but unrecognizable from the smiley, happy woman of the earlier movies we, the viewers, are familiar with. Stephen McKinley Henderson is her mentor, Sammy, and also a veteran there to give words of wisdom now and then, whilst Wagner Moura is her colleague Joel, mostly unlikeable, risky, sarcastic and annoying character. Cailee Spaeny is Jessie, a teenager or young woman, whose ambition is to become a journalist like Lee and ends up tagging along with the group, much to dismay of Lee, who objects and scolds Sammy and Joel for allowing this. The relationship between Lee and Jessie, was one of the few things, I found interesting about the movie. Here Lee is like a mother figure to the younger inexperienced protege. I definitely got that impression that Lee was like a strict mother and a protective one, at that, to Jessie. It is clearly depicted throughout the movie with Lee remaining stern but undeterred by the work or appearing so and Jessie seeming understandably anxious and timid and more interesting is the dynamic switch towards the end of the movie with these characters. The disappoint, to me comes at the end, with Lee risking her life to save Jessie. There are also snippets of the how bad the economy is as well as a disturbing scenes of a war crimes being committed by a seemingly xenophobic US officer played by Dunst’s husband – Jesse Plemons.
The movie showed potential but lacked depth and this was the problem for me. It starts off with the President, giving his speech and stumbling a few times. As leader of the US and the remaining states that are considered loyalist states. He states that the US is making gains, giving the impression that the US is winning the war against the Florida Alliance (FA) and Western Forces (WF). But towards the end of the movie it is clear what faction is actually winning or dominant so I am left to assume that the spiel was little more than propaganda and the turning point being said that some US generals surrendered. What was also confusing or I didn’t quite grasp who was who with the armed forces or militia, FA, US or WF armies. Do they all wear uniforms and are they the same? Certainly Garland was intentionally vague and the ongoing war wasn’t really the main focus but there is one volatile scene in the movie with men in uniforms and some who aren’t in uniform but have military gear, fighting each other. There are a few heart shaking scenes as one would expect in a war movie.
I would have appreciated seeing more to this movie and more of the President. He only appears twice in the movie and his appearances, in both scenes, is very brief. We’re left wondering he may have been a dictator which was probably the spark, or one of them, that started the civil war, and during this ordered an airstrike against citizens. We’re only told this when Sammy is depicting a mock interview and not shown that this happened. It would certainly answer my question as to why the WF were keen to execute him on-sight not that I automatically assumed that either of the factions were innocent or the ‘good guys’ in this war.
There is nothing or not much about the Florida Alliance and Western Forces, which is an alliance of Texas and California, and is clearly identified as having only two stars and the stripes as their flag and uniform. They are described as rebels but who is leading them? Why did they secede and how did they manage to secede from the US? How long have they been departed from the US and was it violent, political, gradual or sudden? How long has this war been going on? What is happening in other states and cities across the US and those states who have seceded from the US? The movie is sold as journalists going across war torn states but we only currently see them in a small parts and on the Eastern Seaboard so perhaps the rest of the journey came up in Lee’s flashback, I’m honestly not sure as I thought the majority of those flashbacks were her experiences of documenting wars in other parts of the world during her career. These are my questions and I was left wondering along with the implications across the world. Were other nations involved or openly/secretly allied with the factions or likely use this to their advantage? We have to remember that the US is a naval power and has bases in other parts of the world, so how would this civil war play out if these states recently and suddenly seceded from the US? What would be the thought processes and emotion of the servicemen and women and citizens of a radically divided country such as the US.
This could all be panned out in any sequels and prequels even a series as I discussed this with a colleague friend but more to the point the director only wanted it focused in America on journalism however the movie could have been better if it was told from various vantage points as war effects everyone. I give it 3/5.