Returns to “Men”, a horror grotesque about toxic masculinity Alex Garland back on the big screens with the next excitement. In “Civil War,” the British filmmaker imagines an escalation of social tensions in the USA. Pretty spooky!
In the near future there can no longer be any talk of the United States of America. A civil war has shaken the country to its core. In the middle: war photographer Lee (Kirsten Dunst), her reporter colleagues Joel (Walter Moura) and Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and youngster Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), who wants to emulate her elders. Together they drive from New York to Washington DC to interview the President (Nick Offerman).
“Civil War” develops disturbing qualities because you constantly see the images of the storming of the Capitol in January 2021 and know about the heated atmosphere in the election year of 2024. Garland escalates the explosive situation, but holds back from making clear classifications. Under the leadership of the fictional president, dictatorial conditions have apparently established themselves, against which opposing states such as California and Texas are now fighting together.
The film saves the big action spectacle that the title seems to herald until the cracking finale. For quite a while, “Civil War” presents itself as a dystopian road movie with familiar end-time impressions and some highly disturbing encounters. Moral questions about war reporting are touched upon. Garland’s script, whose protagonists sometimes seem like chess pieces, focuses primarily on the moment without delving deeper into the background.