I really don't really remember the last time I felt this much constant, gut-wrenching tension for the entirety of a film's runtime but that's exactly what Civil War sets out to accomplish and I was totally gripped from almost the first scene to the final one. Make no mistake; it's a frequently tough watch but that's clearly by design and I'm in complete awe at what Alex Garland pulled off with this film.
I can't say enough about how well this film utilises tension. It's relentlessly bleak but it's not joyless and those moments of levity make the atrocities that Garland portrays all the more impactful. This whole thing is a love letter to journalists and their importance (as twisted as that might sound) and every situation these characters find themselves feels totally earned and with the overwhelming awareness that they're not action heroes who can fight their way out of any danger. Something as simple as car approaching in a rear-view mirror in instantly anxiety-inducing and I constantly found myself scanning the frame for the next threat these characters were going to face, something I haven't found myself doing since the likes of Dunkirk or 1917.
This central group are relentlessly likeable and the acting is outstanding. Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeny really are the heart of the movie and I loved the mentor-mentee relationship they developed. They've got excellent chemistry and I loved the ways in which their relationship develops. There's a choice Spaeny's character makes towards the very end that I know has rubbed some the wrong way but it felts totally earned to me and a totally natural progression. Stephen McKinley Henderson might've just managed to be my favourite character in the film and despite hearing non-stop acclaim about Jesse Plemons role nothing could have prepared me for how terrifying he and his scene truly was. It's one of the best one-scene performances I've ever seen and it's proof more than ever that he's one of the best actors we have.
I hesitate the call the fighting depicted in this movie action scenes but they are brutally realised and I loved the documentarian approach Garland took. I watch a lot of war films, filled with violence, but this is the first time in a long time I've been genuinely disturbed by a film's content. The gun shots are genuinely terrifying, I jumped more than once, and all the gore on display is unbelievably effective. I know some have taken issue with Garland's apolitical stance but with the film being from the perspective of these characters, namely as observers to the conflict and not participants, it felt totally right to me. My only real issues come down to some of Garland's creative choices. I think the editing overall is very solid but sometimes the transitions between scenes could be too abrupt for their own good and it did leave me wanting more from certain sequences. There's also some fairly irritating music choices that frequently felt jarring, sometimes for the better but mostly for the worse.
I definitely had some concerns going into Civil War but Alex Garland may have just made his magnum opus for me. I was riveting from the first scene to the final one and it's one of the most brutally effective films I've seen in recent memory. It does such a good job at drawing attention to the importance of journalists and I for one appreciate the apolitical approach that the script took. It's one of A24's best offerings and I want nothing but success for it going forward.
I can't say enough about how well this film utilises tension. It's relentlessly bleak but it's not joyless and those moments of levity make the atrocities that Garland portrays all the more impactful. This whole thing is a love letter to journalists and their importance (as twisted as that might sound) and every situation these characters find themselves feels totally earned and with the overwhelming awareness that they're not action heroes who can fight their way out of any danger. Something as simple as car approaching in a rear-view mirror in instantly anxiety-inducing and I constantly found myself scanning the frame for the next threat these characters were going to face, something I haven't found myself doing since the likes of Dunkirk or 1917.
This central group are relentlessly likeable and the acting is outstanding. Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeny really are the heart of the movie and I loved the mentor-mentee relationship they developed. They've got excellent chemistry and I loved the ways in which their relationship develops. There's a choice Spaeny's character makes towards the very end that I know has rubbed some the wrong way but it felts totally earned to me and a totally natural progression. Stephen McKinley Henderson might've just managed to be my favourite character in the film and despite hearing non-stop acclaim about Jesse Plemons role nothing could have prepared me for how terrifying he and his scene truly was. It's one of the best one-scene performances I've ever seen and it's proof more than ever that he's one of the best actors we have.
I hesitate the call the fighting depicted in this movie action scenes but they are brutally realised and I loved the documentarian approach Garland took. I watch a lot of war films, filled with violence, but this is the first time in a long time I've been genuinely disturbed by a film's content. The gun shots are genuinely terrifying, I jumped more than once, and all the gore on display is unbelievably effective. I know some have taken issue with Garland's apolitical stance but with the film being from the perspective of these characters, namely as observers to the conflict and not participants, it felt totally right to me. My only real issues come down to some of Garland's creative choices. I think the editing overall is very solid but sometimes the transitions between scenes could be too abrupt for their own good and it did leave me wanting more from certain sequences. There's also some fairly irritating music choices that frequently felt jarring, sometimes for the better but mostly for the worse.
I definitely had some concerns going into Civil War but Alex Garland may have just made his magnum opus for me. I was riveting from the first scene to the final one and it's one of the most brutally effective films I've seen in recent memory. It does such a good job at drawing attention to the importance of journalists and I for one appreciate the apolitical approach that the script took. It's one of A24's best offerings and I want nothing but success for it going forward.