I'm gonna spoil the movie, so if you care, it's probably best if you stop reading here because I'm not putting the entire thing in spoiler tags
So, long story short, Civil War is a beautifully made film that's also cowardly and disappointing
The cinematography is great, the sound is excellent, but the movie lacks something very important, an actual message
If the movie is supposed to be about truth and journalism and its importance, that never comes through, instead it feels very much like "The Troops are Brave: Camera Edition"
Because at no point in the film does the actual work journalists do comes up, instead you're treated to scene after scene of our protagonists taking pictures of war and atrocities, but never actually saying anything about it, which seems to be the tack the film itself is taking
That war is bad, but never bothering to explore the how's and why's of the conflict
The most hints we get as to why the president is bad is a mention that he has a third term (gasp) and ordered air strikes on civilians
Which, uh, I suppose is enough for some people, but the vociferousness with which the forces of the aptly named Western Forces pursue and execute the president suggest something far more interesting, which the movie could not even be bothered to even try and explore
To make a film about the United States becoming balkanized without bothering to even offer a smidgen of backstory as to its causes or even into the politics of the sides only serves to make the film a hollow shell
We're left with nothing to the film, and it seems like they're not even bothered by that, which is an absolute shame because they could have at least tried to say something
Instead, they chose very hard to say absolutely nothing, which only makes the apathy all the worse
Geez, after reading through the comments here, I'm finding that this movie isn't even worth pirating.
And even after Writer/Director Alex Garland answers the most asked question, "Why are Texas and California allies?", what he gives is still a non-answer, just like his fucking movie:
https://screenrant.com/civil-war-a24-movie-texas-california-allies-explained-alex-garland/
What? Like, how hard did Nick Offerman's president push the fascism button for TX and CA to get together? It still doesn't make sense. It's like Garland really went out of his way to not explain a fucking thing.
EDIT: @LaughingLion@hexbear.net has the top comment that said it best:
https://hexbear.net/comment/4806332
Seriously, fuck this movie.
Pretty much
Literally a smidgen of information, a little taste of backstory could have made it better
But no, literally all we get is "He's been in office for THREE terms!"
The horror, the shame
Right? Like, there are Trumpers who would coom instantly if the Cheeto
got a third term. They think he was cheated out of his 2nd term anyway.