My Thoughts on the Film, Civil War (2024), 2/23/2026….

I approached viewing this film expecting something polarizing, something political, something disturbing. What I got after watching it was something unexpected: humanity.

Don’t get me wrong, Civil War (2024) is a polarizing, political, and disturbing film, indeed. It reimagines our country in a civil war: the Western Alliance (Texas, and—if you could believe it, California) joins forces to secede from the United States.

And the United States is losing.

The story follows journalists as they road trip from New York City to Washington, D.C., to interview the President. Seasoned photojournalist Lee (Kirsten Dunst, Spider-Man), veteran reporter Joe (Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent), the young, impressionable Jessie (Cailee Spaeny, Alien: Romulus), and old timer Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson, Fences) travel through war-torn townships and uninvolved hamlets on their way to their destination. Their trip is not without incident or tragedy. When what’s left of the team reaches D.C., we find Jessie eager and fearless, Lee frightened and exhausted, and Joe just trying to keep up. They follow a group of WA soldiers into the White House to find POTUS, killing federal agents along the way. When they reach the unnamed President, played by Nick Offerman (The Last Of Us), the man pleads for his life, and is ultimately shot to death.

British screenwriter/director Alex Garland (Ex Machina) is no stranger to creating films that make viewers think. And, in some sort of cinematic coup, Garland, as an outsider to the United States, takes a big risk in making a film about a nation he observes from afar, about people who are, according to him, both tribal and violent.

What particular message is this film sending? Is it a cautionary tale? A morality play? A detached account of where we surely are heading? Or does it provide hope? A hope that we, as a nation and a people, can endure this factionalism and become better than what we currently are?

But again, the film is not about enraging the American viewers—although I’m sure it may very well do that—it’s about the outsiders, the observers, the journalists who risk their lives to report, not editorialize, what’s in front of them.

I recommend watching this film, especially with an open mind. I don’t think it warrants rewatching; it gets its message across clearly and without too much artifice the first time.