Review: Alex Garland’s ‘Civil War’ Comes Home On 4K And Blu-ray
by David Lewis
Writer-director Alex Garland has made a career exploring the dark, psychological side of fantasy and sci-fi with Annihilation, Men, and Ex Machina. Civil War, his most recent film now available on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD, attempts to directly address the here and now, but feels like a missed opportunity.
The US is at war with itself, although the battle lines aren’t as neatly drawn as the Mason-Dixon line was in the first Civil War. Kirsten Dunst plays a Lee Smith, a veteran battle photographer who is traveling with hotshot reporter Joel (Wagner Moura), veteran writer Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson), and rookie photographer Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) across war-torn America from NYC to DC. Their goal is to interview the despotic president, played by Nick Offerman. Along the way, they witness apathy and atrocity in equal measure, while struggling to maintain the objectivity their profession demands. Once they arrive in the capital, total war has erupted at the White House, and Lee’s stoic nature is rocked both by the violence she sees and by Jessie’s increasingly dangerous risk-taking.
Despite its incendiary title and ad campaign, Civil War plays it oddly safe and is largely uninterested in venturing into real world politics. The hows and whys of the conflict are glossed over with a not-very-believable map at the beginning and a few references to the “Western Forces” of California and Texas and those loyal to the tyrannical president, whose own beliefs aren’t explored. Some citizens (or entire states) are somehow neutral, and there’s no mention of social media or the dangerous phenomenon of “Fake News.” Garland is more focused on the rather predictable journey of the team of journalists, and the epic staging of the Battle of DC itself, which has some of the most intense modern urban combat scenes since Black Hawk Down.
Only one sequence feels like a frightening “what if” scenario inspired by recent real world events, and that’s when Lee and the gang run into a racist authority figure (Jesse Plemons) leading the casual cover up of a mass grave of apparent political opponents. Overall, Civil War is a well-acted, intense, and visually striking thriller, but it lacks true motivation and feels somewhat unfinished.
Likewise, the Blu-ray is curiously short of bonus features. The lone documentary that is here is a very thorough, six-part peek behind the scenes. While it doesn’t really discuss the film’s origins or the casting process, it provides an excellent deep dive into the production process, highlighting the film’s incredible visual and practical effects work and elaborate set design. The four leads — Dunst, Maura, Spaeny, and Henderson — all get plenty of screen time in seated interviews, but Plemons and Offerman are conspicuously absent, which is a real shame.
