Civil War reviews

[Mister Tee]

I, too, would like to know what it was Wells posted. It'd have to be something from literally the last few minutes of the film to be spoiler-ific (something of which Wells is quite capable; he posted the fate of a major character in Brokeback Mountain days after the film's release).

Addressing my issues with the film will actually require my dealing with those final moments, but I'll try to be as vague as possible, and post an all-caps spoiler warning prior.

For much of the way, I was very much with this film. It wasn't transcendent, but it was gripping, thoughtful, well-shot -- a fully professional piece of work, the sort of thing we so rarely see pre-September. There was a bit of 1917's obstacle-course structure to the film -- the characters were on the road to somewhere, but the film's action lay in the things they encountered en route. But this film, unlike Mendes', had characters and dialogue to make it feel like a human journey, rather than an expanded video game. Kirsten Dunst is just terrific here -- war-weary, jaded, philosophical. I was unfamiliar with Wagner Moura -- never watched Narcos -- but he was perfectly solid, without quite the scene-opportunities Dunst had. And Stephen McKinley Henderson was pretty wonderful, in a very sympathetic, kind of classic supporting role. Cailee Spaeny's character was the one I was most dubious about from the start -- her role seemed crammed in to create tension -- but I can't really fault her work. (My first encounter with her; still haven't got around to Priscilla.) All of these people gave connective tissue to the various stops along the way -- the gas station, the Santa-land, and, most memorably, the Jesse Plemons pit, which offered the most memorable image of the film.

MY ISSUES, ABOUT WHICH I'LL TRY TO BE EVASIVE, BUT I COULD WELL SLIP INTO SPOILER TERRITORY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Spaeny's character arc was among the issues I encountered in the film's final segment, but not the only one. First, I had to deal with the sudden acceleration of the rebellion's military progress. Reaching more or less endgame on that score, I realized the film had short-changed me on who these uprisers were or what they wanted. I know some have criticized the film for not being extremely specific about who these people were/not tying them to the current US political divide. That didn't so much bother me most of the way. But, as I got to this final section, I found I had no idea how to feel about the army achieving what it did and, especially, doing what it did. This needn't have been a bad thing, I suppose -- it might have been worse if I were clear on good guys and bad guys. But what I saw left me with no feeling at all, and I'm not sure how that's satisfying, dramatically.

The other thing that happened -- and here is where the Spaeny character comes in -- is, these people I'd been following as interesting humans for almost 2 hours suddenly turned into pawns for some schematic, almost formulaic construction. It was troubling enough that Spaeny seemed to jump from talented neophyte to super-pro over the course of a few days (or at best weeks). But for Dunst's character to, in numbingly parallel fashion, lose heart and make way for a new generation to replace herself, was way too pat for what had been such an interesting narrative. It made me think back and, to some extent, downgrade what had preceded it: much as I liked Henderson's character and performance, wasn't he, if you look at it in a particular light, the cliche of the old-timer just short of retirement going out with the job? I don't want to go all the way there, but the fact that the film so reverted to formula in one aspect forces me to question other elements in the same light.

So...hard to give an overall response to this. The movie up till the final reel was a strong, at worst 3 1/2 star movie. But the ending took away a lot of the achievement, and endings are what give us our lasting impressions. Still like the performances, and much of the writing/filmmaking. But, oh, what might have been, with a better finale.

[flipp525]

I saw Civil War on Thursday night and I’m curious what the spoiler was. I really can’t imagine what it could be.

[Sabin]

Anyone who still checks out Jeffrey Wells' site in zombie-rotation mode as I do should avoid it today. He is a fucking monster for several reasons but that idiot just posted a massive spoiler image today at 1pm PST with the audacity to say "I assume most of you have seen it by now..."

It's my own fucking fault for even going there in zombie rotation.

[Sabin]

Okri wrote
Wasn't the recent Ari Aster film on that level (expense wise)?

Beau is Afraid cost (I think) $35m and then spent a lot marketing it. It didn't make that money back at all.

I'd imagine this would have a better shot.

[Okri]

Wasn't the recent Ari Aster film on that level (expense wise)?

[Sabin]

I mentioned elsewhere that the film cost $50m which is A24's biggest budget to date. You have to imagine they wouldn't make an investment like this if they weren't sure about its commercial appeal and how to get it.

[Big Magilla]

Reza, enough with the anti-American attacks. No one is going to take the bait.

[Reza]

There's a smell of deja vu about this film. The United States in post-apocalyptic mode with struggling survivors. Been there so many times in other big and small screen films.

What's always novel is seeing the United States deeply entrenched in violence on its own shores. A delightful change from reality where they are always the cause of so much violence and pain on foreign shores.

[danfrank]

What people seem to be buzzing most about in this film is that California and Texas form an alliance in the depicted civil war. Fiction, for sure.

[Mister Tee]

As Sabin notes in another thread, Alex Garland's newest has premiered at SXSW, and is getting strong reactions (not all good, but it's clearly something):

https://variety.com/2024/film/reviews/c ... 235942401/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 235852455/

https://www.thewrap.com/kirsten-dunst-c ... x-garland/

https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/mov ... 234964914/

https://theplaylist.net/civil-war-revie ... -20240315/

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/ ... 234980226/