Recommendation: Civil War

Civil War is a much discussed and mildly controversial film written and directed by Alex Garland and produced by A24 Studios. The cast is headlined by Kirsten Dunst and features a host of excellent co-stars, including Nick Offerman, Jesse Plemons, and Wagner Moura.

The film imagines a dystopian, near-future version of the United States which has devolved into the titular conflict between the so-called “Western Forces” of California and Texas and an extremist federal government. Viewers follow a group of war journalists en route to Washington D.C. as they navigate brutality, chaos, and wanton violence in the hopes of documenting the imminent collapse of the once-proud republic.

What I loved: Excellent performances, brilliant set pieces, beautiful cinematography, harrowing imagery, and clever editing — Alex Garland knows how to make a goddamned movie, which is why studios keep throwing money at him. Civil War is visceral and visually arresting.

What I hated: The writing — in particular the world-building — in this film is, as my friend Martin might say, irresponsible. I have dozens of qualms and frustrations to choose from, so I’ll highlight two of the most egregious.

First, I’m asked to believe this is a near-future version of America, but no probable explanation is offered as to why California and Texas would “team up” to overthrow the federal government.

This the laziest possible way to “de-politicize” the idea of individual states fighting back against federal overreach. If California were to attempt secession it would almost certainly go solo, relying on its status as the fifth largest standalone economy in the world to create its own currency, trade pacts, armed forces, etc. In doing so, it would also immediately get invaded by the U.S. military and re-annexed.

Second, this movie casually dismisses macroeconomics and instead aims its lens at the “conditions on the ground.” Problem is, because of this choice, the conditions on the ground aren’t remotely believable. For example, early in the film there’s a scene where the journalists need to buy gasoline and end up haggling with the “overseer” of the station. Dunst’s character offers three hundred “dollars” (assumed to be U.S.) for a tank and two refills and is laughed off. She then says “Canadian,” which shocks the attendant, and he quickly accepts.

What’s the problem, you ask?

Well, how exactly would the Canadian Dollar fare if the U.S. — by far its biggest trading partner — collapsed? And how would the rest of the world fare if the good ole greenback, our planet’s de facto reserve currency, went into an inflationary death spiral? The answers are: not well. In our highly interconnected system the macroeconomic and geopolitical dominoes would’ve fallen fast and fallen hard. America’s implosion would’ve cratered currencies and markets worldwide and hosed every single country holding huge amounts of its debt, including Japan, China, the U.K., many Western European countries, and, of course, Canada.

Final verdict: This movie is a mess — at once expertly made and utterly unserious — and yet, it’s worth a look. At just under two hours it sports an efficiency and elegance uncommon in modern films and, if nothing else, doesn’t demand too much of your time.

Where to watch: HBO Max (or whatever it’s called).