Civil War (2024)

Plot of Civil War: In the near future Texas and California have banded together to take on the established government in armed conflict, the war seemingly extending randomly across the country. Four people, a veteran war photographer, a young aspiring war photographer both female and two writers embark on a road trip across the states from New York to Washington, in order to arrive there in time to be part of the invasion of the capital city. On the way they come across a number of unnerving situations, a gas station where men are being tortured, a place where snipers are targeting each other, a town which seems to be ignoring the conflict and a couple of soldiers who seem to be randomly killing everyone they don’t like. The young photographer becomes more confident, the others seem to be numbed by the events they are involved in. Finally in Washington things come to a head.

Content: No sex or nudity and I don’t recollect any drinking or smoking. There is a lot of fire fighting as the photographers, seemingly relying on their press neutrality follow soldiers in the fight. There are a lot of explosions starting with one in New York, apparently a suicide bomb, which is incredibly loud, and which is followed by silence creating the impression that we have been deafened by the blast. In a number of places the photographers get very close to the shooters and photograph them, so there are stills of the results. Everything comes to a head in Washington where the fight includes Apache helicopters.

A View: Not everyone has liked this outing, but it has generally been successful, and the scene where an unnamed soldier (Jesse Plemons)is killing people randomly is one of the most shocking I have ever seen on screen. Probably intentionally, we mostly don’t find out which sides people are on, just that they are shooting at each other which is just a bit frustrating although it more or less becomes clear in Washington. I am still left with the question as to whether the combatants would actually be executing each other rather than taking prisoners. Could the Americans be that barbaric? Still worth the price of admission if you like that sort of thing.

Fun Fact: Jesse Plemons, husband of Kirsten Dunst, was a last minute replacement when the original actor cast was ill.