The Film Buffa Reviews: ‘Civil War’ is the most unnerving and harrowing road movie of all time

Alex Garland aims to rattle your cage, and succeeds immensely. Is it too much? Yes. Is it very well done? Read on.

Normally when a body hits the ground after taking a few bullets, a human being nearby rushes to their aide. Lee Scott steps to the side instead, going for her shot after the shots have been fired. It’s an effortless, immediate motion. That’s her job as a military photojournalist: step into the lions den, stare into the abyss, and try to find a pulse that viewers of her pictures can understand and recognize back home, even if they skip the written part of the story.

Played fearlessly and soulfully by Kirsten Dunst, wartime photo journalists like Lee are the heroes who dare to give us a picture worth a thousand words while putting everything on the line. People could ask, “do they really need to be there?” Yes, because otherwise the world stays in the dark. Alex Garland’s Civil War, more than anything inside his shock and awe bag of tricks, is a tribute to those humans. The ones who defy the odds, cross the line of no return, and deliver a story.

Garland’s movie is the epitome of unsettling, the most harrowing road movie you’ll ever watch. This one will rattle your cages at home or in a theater, but it’s truly best to see this one in a big theater. That’s where the rapture of the fictional events that look too nonfictional will hit you the hardest. The sounds of gunfire haven’t rattled off the inside walls of a movie theater like this since Michael Mann’s Heat. You feel like you’re in the hot box with the great Stephen McKinley Henderson’s wise yet aging journo, the person in the movie who tells everyone else they shouldn’t do this or that dangerous thing… yet follows them anyway. Again, that’s the job.

Four journalists-including Wagner Moura’s thrill-seeking Reuters journo and an up and coming photographer who wants to be like Lee-climb into an SUV together and make a pact to drive 854 miles from New York to Washington D.C., where the modern day war that breaks out across the country is expected to reach its climax at the White House. Dunst, Henderson, and company race to get the exclusive from the President, played defiantly by Nick Offerman. He’s not exactly a Trump copy; just another hated leader who the people want to take out.

What’s the reason for the United States becoming a full-blown war zone? No clear-cut answer is given, only implied through the dialogue of its characters. One of the best parts of Garland’s visceral tale is that it doesn’t take any sides politically, or do too much explaining. He knows that it’s easier to climb into anyone and everyone’s head by letting real life affairs fill our minds as he rips a hole in our hearts. There may be separate groups called the Western Forces (Texas and California) and Central Alliance in Florida, but it’s never clear who is with who or what they’re really fighting for. It’s just war. Like the journalists on the move, we’re just there witnessing it all and trying to comprehend it with words or photography.

While it’s wisely apolitical, the movie is brutal with its violence. It has two hands wrapped around the best sound award at next year’s Oscars. Garland doesn’t pull a shade to any kind of death, whether it be a person being set on fire or having a bullet rip through their chest on camera. He also doesn’t walk down cinema thriller roads that we have come to expect; he likes to create his own brand of tension.

A scene at a gas station doesn’t play out how one would expect, allowing our minds to imagine the worst instead. It’s a 24/7, entire movie kind of horror that moves quickly but cuts deep with its path. It’s as relentless as Uncut Gems with its storytelling and forward movement.

The scene involving Jesse Plemons asking our brave journalists in the middle of a burial ground that won’t soon leave your mind is one of the most unnerving scenes in a movie in quite some time. You’ve seen it in the trailer, where his military dressed and armed rebel asks them what kind of American they are. It gets worse when he asks them which state they’re from. Let’s be honest, Plemons is at his best when he is playing a psycho, which makes his comforting real life a further testament to his success.

Dunst, who plays a key role in that scene, and Plemons, are a real life couple. Seeing them play opposite ends of the human species here is a trip and a treat. I can’t imagine the table read or home study session was too much fun. It’s a tough and very well played scene, much like the movie.

Civil War is not for everybody. If the preview worked you up and sat a little too close to home, the actual movie will obliterate you. That’s not to take away from its impact and extended stay inside your cerebellum. This is a great movie: a chilling, thought-provoking thriller that paints a very familiar picture with incredible actors and a filmmaker who doesn’t give a shit about our feelings.

One should love Garland for that last part. If you’re going to do something like this, lean into it and don’t half ass it, like Offerman would say on Parks and Recreation. He full-asses this cautionary tale, a warning sign of bad times to come as the election ramps up. The writer/director knows exactly what he’s doing. Why tilt the table politically if you can appeal to everybody?

He shocks the shit out of you here, taking full advantage of A24’s biggest check yet and the movie theater experience. You’ll think those bullets are flying past you, and the urge to get up and run will be apparent. Garland’s visuals and the cinematography are jaw-droppingly gorgeous.

Don’t expect a happy ending. Don’t expect a positive ending. Look around outside right now. Do you sense positivity? Civil War is a reflection of harsh times, and how much worse things could get if unchecked. Instead of presenting easy answers and cheap thrills, Garland rocks us with originality and motive. Heck, this movie should be motivating, if you take the dive.

Do it for Dunst. She gives it all here, and it looks natural. Lee wears every death, murder and act of violence on her face, a constant display of despair and dread. As she tells McKinley-Henderson’s writer about midway through the film, one would think all those pictures sent back home will convince them this was a bad idea. Instead, she’s dashing across the country before the President is attacked. Dunst climbs inside of and owns this character.

I haven’t watched Narcos on Netflix yet, but I can see the charm in Moura’s face and the energy in his acting. Joel is addicted to the chaos of war and smiles with glee when the job goes well or there’s blood to chase, but he unleashes all the rage of a thousand suns late in the movie. You’ll know. We’ve all wanted to do that. He DOES it.

Cailee Spaeny has the most predictable role in the film, an arc that can be seen from the early going when Lee saves her from a suicide bomber. But the actress imbues her with a true hunger for the trade, even if her heart cracks on multiple occasions. Henderson is a joy to watch as an old lion trying to keep up with the young ones, giving us a supporting performance that I hope gets recognition at the end of the year.

Outside of the main cast, the rest are only faces vaguely known, and for good reason. Garland’s main goal is to keep us off balance and unsure of what’s coming next, and that could be anything. He undercuts the fierce action with signature song choices and a slight yet aware dark sense of humor.

One more thing before I shut up. I think the apolitical stance is again a testament to the photojournalists and journalists who toe that line of duty and passion, finding a story in the face of something wicked. For two hours, we’re them and get to see what it feels like to hear, see, and digest a form of terror that most of us don’t know at all. Garland salutes their neutral stance as storytellers by giving them a robust representation.