A24's CIVIL WAR - Movie Review | Gripping, Harrowing, and Intense!

Alex Garland returns to the director's chair for possibly the last time with his new feature, Civil War. Is he able to inject the controversial subject matter with his usual cerebral style, or is he unable to bring any nuance to the situation? Find out what we think in our review!

[@selena___]

I like the word "apathy" that you used. I was using "desensitised". Maybe the use of Say or go symbolises that. A lot of people hate that we don't know what the civil war is, but I like that in changing our focus and making it close to home, we maybe address our apathy. Having said as per my other comment below I didn't like the character Cailee played, could be wrong but it can't be right that this is the way you learn the ropes as a war photographer ie cut your teeth on a major event. But I loved Jesse Plemons - what he did with his short time is the hallmark of a great actor - his "What sort of American are you?" and his image in red shades is iconic

[@RavensOsFan89]

I really loved the visuals and sound. The war action was great as well. I wasn’t big on the characters though.

[@vincedurden6446]

You guys have good taste.

[@thebodaciousrant441]

Thank you for watching!

[@rickpontificates3406]

INTENSE, and MEANINGLESS... and only sporadically intense at a few spots

[@TennisReaperCinema-vp7bw]

How are you doing today and how your weekend? I thought the movie was okay. The only thing was irritating was that brat was constantly getting in people way clicking that camera. I was like you going to get someone killed doing that. I knew it when it got to a certain scene and it was pretty sad. Thanks for the great review.

[@thebodaciousrant441]

For sure, I think it was definitely a commentary on the drive and recklessness that comes with trying to "get the shot"

[@selena___]

I think the last thing I said to myself whilst watching the movie was "she's a liability" so totally agree with you

[@sebraven]

This movie will not be for everyone. It is a slow burn for the first half of the movie , and the reasons why the civil war happened could have been explored more by the journalists . Even a couple of interviews with some people from different states on their journey could have been very interesting as they are journalists . Rather than just focus on the effects of war and the horror. As if you do it that way then there needs to be more coverage of the battles . Personally i liked the movie, the visuals and especially the sound design were amazing , the gun shouts were so loud and scary . Not like how gun fire is portrayed in so many other movies as a spectacle, each shot fired in the movie was disturbing which added to the whole disturbing nature of this movie.

[@thebodaciousrant441]

I think that would probably be a little too much for a just under two hour movie to tackle, but that idea would've made for a really incredible miniseries! Going state to state and seeing the people and the effects of the war on them.

[@sebraven]

@@thebodaciousrant441 a mini series would be a great idea!!

[@user-nw2si7hu3u]

The characters were all SO CLICHE this movie sucked ❤

[@thebodaciousrant441]

Sorry you didn't like it! Yeah the characters themselves weren't anything special, but the performances and the direction elevated them for me. - Bern

[@user-nw2si7hu3u]

@@thebodaciousrant441 I will agree K Dunst and J Plemons were superb and at times the action and even the drama were really intense but then he ruined it w the de la soul soundtrack and the songs and shite. If he doesn’t antes to make a movie about numb journalists he should’ve made it about that. If he wanted to make a movie about a civil war he should’ve made it about thatS. But this felt half way between both and this neither nor. And the young photog girl was a terrible actor in a even worse character. Garland always holds out so mucb promise to me he’s a great director but honestly I have not been impressed by anything since ex machina. Annihilation was such cliche too and nowhere near as good as the books and the rest is even less to discuss. That’s what kills me maybe when I see peopme that talented not quite getting it right it kills me. ❤ Plemons pretty much stole the show here but Dunst was superb too credit where credit is due…

[@thebodaciousrant441]

Totally fair! While I can appreciate a lot of the choices he makes as an artist I will admit that they don't always work for me too. What I really like is that he doesn't tend to make the SAFE choice that tries to appeal to everyone and ends up being bland.

[@user-nw2si7hu3u]

@@thebodaciousrant441agreed. To call it artistic differences is giving myself too much credit lol. It’s way easier to criticize than to creat. But seeing so much talent not quite hit it’s mark just kills me, no pun intended !! I actually think he played it extremely safe in this movie, making females the lead, using cliche characters, making the government the bad guys etc we’re all very safe choice to me. All PC decisions here. The black female at the end who shot the and white -man-in-power another safe PC choice, I think that’s prbaboy why I didn’t like the movie again so so so many politically correct cliches everywhere like he didn’t want to offense any liberal Hollywood sensitivities whatsoever .

[@thebodaciousrant441]

Interesting, because the movie does seem to be drawing criticisms from both sides of the political spectrum. But hey it's got people talking! I think the worst thing would've been for people to just go "meh" and go about their days lol