6/30/2024 - Worth the Popcorn? The Movie, Civil War.
In a dystopian future America, a team of military-embedded journalists races against time to reach Washington, D.C., before rebel factions descend upon the White House.
Bill and Justin discuss the movie “Civil War”.
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Alex Garland’s near future apocalyptic road trip is A24’s biggest film to date
“Every time I survived a war zone, I thought I was sending a warning home—’Don’t do this’—but here we are.” – Lee Smith, as portrayed by Kirsten Dunst, in Civil War
Following the global COVID-19 pandemic and trends of big budget streaming-exclusive film releases, it was already going to be difficult getting people into theaters in 2024. The usual suspects—massive superhero films done by Marvel, Warner Brothers, and Sony—did nothing to help. Marvel has fumbled for a stable status quo since 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War concluded the MCU’s Thanos arc, Warner Brothers is not putting out any new superhero movies due to a massive reboot of their cinematic universe, and Sony keeps bombing with Spider-Man-adjacent films that nobody asked for. The nail in the coffin for the 2024 movie season, however, was the SAG-AFTRA writer’s strike of 2023. Because film studios refused to pay writers their worth for streaming content and threatened their very existence by investing in artificial intelligence, speculations suggest that not even Inside Out 2 or the long awaited Deadpool & Wolverine will be enough to get people into theaters this summer.
There was one massive success story found in the rubble of the strike. As soon as SAG-AFTRA made their demands, indie studio A24 agreed to every single line item, and as a result, many of the studio's films were greenlit by the union. This included its biggest budget film to date, Civil War, which cost $50 million to make and has already grossed over $114 million worldwide despite its artistic leanings and political undertones. Civil War is A24’s second most profitable film, behind only Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Civil War stars Kirsten Dunst as renowned war photographer Lee Smith. In the film, her character shares the name with another renowned Lee Smith, setting up a theme of succession. As Lee and her crew travel across the nation in order to get the only remaining story worth getting, an interview with the President of the United States before he is assassinated by opposing forces in a second American Civil War, Cailee Spaeny’s Jessie Cullen entertains a possible future in Smith’s shoes. They are joined on their road trip Odyssey by Wagner Moura as Joel, an adrenaline junkie who keeps the photographers safe once the bullets start flying, Stephen McKinley Henderson as Sammy, the voice of reason and experience, and briefly by Tony (Nelson Lee), a Hong Kong journalist covering the events in the divided states.
The inflammatory nature of releasing a politically charged movie named Civil War in 2024 almost led this Lowell Ledger reviewer to skip the film altogether. According to statistics from a few years ago, the only other time in American history when the nation was so divided as it has been for the past decade was during the original Civil War from 1861 to 1865. The idea that there might be a second Civil War was not invented by proponents of the so-called “Big Lie” that the previous US presidential election was somehow stolen, despite evidence that it was one of the most secure elections in the nation’s history.
It goes back at least as far as the 1960s when white supremacist mass murderer Charles Manson prophesied an apocalyptic “Helter Skelter” war between black and white Americans. Fellow white supremacist mass murderer Dylann Roof murdered nine attendees of a black church just one day after a controversial figure announced a presidential run in 2015, and in court he testified that a new world order would take over, and he would be pardoned for his crimes. The idea of a second Civil War is nothing to play around with.
Fortunately, viewers are in good hands with writer and director Alex Garland at the helm of this project. Garland is well known for speculative and science fiction films that take place in the all-too-near future like Ex Machina, Annihilation, and the “fast zombie” movie that literally takes place a month in the future called 28 Days Later. Garland’s films are terrifying, yes, but they are also nuanced and caring, and more than what might happen, they explore themes that are already happening under our very noses. Civil War is no exception. This is not to say that any recent U.S. presidents have done away with term limits, disbanded the FBI, or ordered airstrikes against American citizens, nor is traveling to Washington DC yet a guaranteed death penalty for journalists as it is in the film, but we have experienced tyranny in recent years, and we have seen the American public cast a blind eye to atrocities just as Smith describes in a memorable quote.
“Once you start asking those questions, you can’t stop. So we don’t ask. We record so other people ask,” Smith said. “Every time I survived a war zone, I thought I was sending a warning home—’Don’t do this’—but here we are.”
Instead of inciting the populace to take up arms during a year where both domestic and foreign powers have already begun an assault on the U.S. electoral process, Civil War speaks to the problems that come when a democratic nation lays down and allows tyranny to prevail. Notably, the other side of the conflict in this film is an unlikely friendship between Texas and California. What do these two states have in common? Well, Texas acts like it is the speaker for the far right in much the same way as California has a liberal bully pulpit, and residents know that both states are more purple than anyone feels comfortable admitting due to large, liberal cities in Texas and conservative enclaves in northern California. What accounts for their union in the film, however, is the fact that they are large, populous, and wealthy. In other words, instead of holding some moral authority, which they do to some extent, at least insofar as they actively protect journalists, the only reason these two states have united against Washington is because they can. Might makes right. Rousseau’s social contract has been ripped up, and this is a battle of all versus all. Armed soldiers shoot and kill other armed soldiers not because they are on opposing sides of the conflict but because the others are shooting back, and other tiny tyrants, like the one played by Dunst’s uncredited husband Jesse Plemons, are just acting out the stories they have always wanted to star in but found themselves constrained by social norms.
Civil War is on the short list for contenders for best picture of 2024, and it would have been even if the year were overflowing with critically acclaimed films. It is something that everyone should really see at some point in their lives, but there are a couple of reasons why people probably should not see Civil War. The first is a good reason—this film is intense, so younger audiences and people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) should probably steer clear. As a reporter, it was difficult to sit through this film and report on fellow reporters, albeit fictional, who were constantly under fire, especially as some Americans have taken to threatening and attacking reporters in the so-called “Post-Truth Era.” The second reason for not seeing Civil War is a bad reason, but it is a reason no less. Some people just do not want to see other people’s perspectives anymore. There is an intense lack of empathy, creativity, and vision, so some folks will not see this film simply because it presents a different worldview, and that is sad.
If you are looking for more discussion on the 2024 film Civil War, check out the Lowell Ledger website for Bill Lee and Justin Tiemeyer’s podcast discussion of the movie where you can find additional commentary and ratings.
