I Usually Don't Watch War Movies, But Alex Garland's Civil War Just Became One Of My Favorites Of The Year

The latest of the 2024 movies that's playing in theaters is A24’s Civil War. The movie written and directed by Ex Machina’s Alex Garland is reportedly the studio’s most expensive film to date and follows a hardened war photojournalist (played by Kirsten Dunst) as she and her team travel across the United States to chase a big story amidst the country being in the middle of a brutal modern civil war. Now, Civil War blew me away, and that’s particularly surprising to me as someone who typically steers away from (or generally doesn’t enjoy) movies of the war variety. Let me talk about why.

War movies have always been important to the fabric of cinema. After all, war is seemingly an inevitable part of the fabric of humanity, as well, so of course I'm all for war movies being out in the world and appreciate them. But, I actually think Civil War in particular deserves a spot among the best war movies because it completely captured the attention of myself, someone who doesn’t usually gravitate toward the topic by choice.

If There’s One Movie Topic I Steer Away From, It’s The War Movie

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen some good war movies and appreciate the quality ones. I went out of my way to see 1917 in IMAX when it was getting award season buzz. I've also been exposed to movies like Saving Private Ryan, Glory and Black Hawk Down and I don’t regret seeing them by any means. In general, as a massive movie fan, there’s not necessarily any type of movie I wouldn’t watch, but if I had to choose one, it’s the war movie. I find it necessary for us as humans to reflect on war and have discussions about it, and movies are a great platform to do so, but it’s just not my thing.

Why I Went To See Civil War Anyway

So why did I go see Civil War? Well, there’s a few reasons. One, I’ve never regretted watching an Alex Garland movie, especially in theaters if I can. Civil War’s writer/director got his start in the movie business by writing two fantastic scripts for Danny Boyle with 2002’s 28 Days Later and 2007’s Sunshine. He also penned the heart-wrenching adaptation of Never Let Me Go before making his electrifying directorial debut with 2014’s Ex Machina. The science fiction film is is so good that I think about it every few months. Yes, I’ll admit that I thought his follow-up, 2018’s Annihilation, to be underwhelming, and found 2022’s Men got a bit too weird for me (and that's saying a lot), but like I said, I still have never once regretted going on the journey of an Alex Garland movie.

There's that, plus the fact that A24 has definitely become my favorite studio to follow in recent years and the incredibly talented Kirsten Dunst being paired with Cailee Spaeny, who I thought had one of the best performances last year in Priscilla. So I made the plunge, and truthfully, I didn’t know how much about war it would delve into. I was willing to go in blind and enjoy the experience, and I definitely was not disappointed! So, for my fellow war scaredy cats, I actually would recommend you do the same.

How Civil War Caught Me Off Guard In A Great Way

First of all, perhaps contrary to perception, Civil War is not a political movie. It takes place in a modern world where two sides of Americans are taking part in a war. That said, I was impressed about the ways in which the movie sidesteps taking sides or trying to preach some sort of grand-scale statement about the state of America these days or take any stance on this year’s upcoming election. The movie does a great job of being ambiguous about how the U.S. ended up in a new civil war and really puts the focus on the journey the main characters go on throughout its 109-minute runtime (contrary to previous rumors of it being over three hours) that absolutely grabs hold of you right away and never lets go.

The specific relationship that grabbed my attention, and will grab you too, is between two war photojournalists at different places in their career. Kirsten Dunst plays Lee, a rather renowned and famous photographer in her field who is established to be someone who has seen her fair share of the war up close and personal, and is pushing forward in her craft despite the deep-seated trauma and lethargy she feels from the work she does. Her foil is Cailee Spaeny’s Jesse, a much younger photographer who idolizes Lee and the work that she does. When Jesse ends up tagging along on a road trip across the U.S. with Lee’s crew of press, Lee has to wrestle with how she could inspire someone to run through the line of fire like herself after looking through the barrel of the lens she’s shared with the world.

Ultimately, Its Human Story Makes Civil War One Of 2024’s Best Thus Far

By every definition, including in the title itself, Civil War is a war movie. There are some rather intense sequences showcasing the realities of war, whether that be through lots of gun shooting, hostage situations or tragic death scenes. In other words, it has everything I don’t like about the genre, and yet I was completely and wholeheartedly all in for Civil War thanks to its really impressive character studies, performances by the actors who play them and general empathy for humanity. Alex Garland continues to be a top-tier filmmaker for me with this release on both the writing and directing fronts.

I’m not going to get into spoilers here, but experiencing Civil War rocked me to my core in a way that movies seldom can. There were multiple scenes both early on and halfway through the movie where I felt completely emotionally invested in the characters in ways that were really unique to seeing this movie. One moment in particular, which is actually technically an action scene, had me veering on tears because of how powerful it felt to me.

I think most of all, Civil War does an excellent job of putting the audience in the shoes of war photojournalists on the ground witnessing war and being part of it. In today’s day and age, we see videos and photos all the time, on our social media perhaps, of war, but an image or video is distant to us. Civil War reminds one of the work and pure risk it takes to tell the truth and capture the crimes and heroics in our world, and my mind is pretty much blown at the care to which Civil War puts its audience in the shoes of the terrifying reality of war, in a way that is not glamorous by any means.

I’m not the only person in the world who’ve been raving about this movie. CinemaBlend’s own Civil War review was given a perfect five out of five, and the movie has received high praise since the first reactions came out of its debut at SXSW last month. You can catch Civil War in theaters now.