 Civil War is a film about a country divided, but maybe not in the way you think. While it's true that California and Texas team up to take on the rest of the United States, the real division comes from audiences being misled into going into a film that's not actually how it presents itself. Let's talk about Civil War. This is going to be a spoiler-free review. If you like what I'm doing here, feel free to hit subscribe and like the video. I would appreciate it. Let's dive in. Civil War is a new flick by Alex Garland, who previously is responsible for ex-Makina. Annihilation. Men. Men I notoriously hate, but I love annihilation and ex-Makina. He's still batting pretty good for me. Going into Civil War, this was my most anticipated film of 2024. It looked really freaking good from the trailers, but that is not how the film plays out at all. If you went into this movie assuming it was going to be a politically charged social commentary on what's happening in the United States, you're going to be very disappointed. Because even though the trailers kind of allude to that, I mean by kind of, I mean basically saying this is what the movie's about, it's no way shape or form what the movie's about. This film doesn't take a side. It doesn't really take a stance on anything political. And this movie is wildly vague, to a point of fault I think. It would have been nice to get a bit more substance thrown in. Because as it stands, Civil War is a very basic film that's about an hour and 40 minutes long, incredibly well shot, very well acted, a solid pace through and through, and I absolutely love this film. That being said, I can also see why people would go into this and be very let down. Especially if you're a fan of Nick Offerman or Jesse Plemons. Because even though they're prominently featured in the trailer, that's a complete mislead. Offerman, I don't think says more than five sentences. Plemons, what you see in the trailer is his entire sequence in the film. These guys are not in the movie much, which was disappointing because I love these actors. It would have been great to flesh them out more. But this is about the reporters. This is about the people on the front line, covering the stories, not taking a side, basically acting as robots, NPCs, just trying to get the photo. Just trying to get the story in front of people, perhaps not even for today's audience, but for down the road. So that people can look back on the events in this film and say, oh, that's what happened. That's what really went down. This movie is going to focus on Lee, played by Kirsten Dunst, her and her reg tag team of four are going to be going on a cross-country road trip to interview the president. President in hiding hasn't taken an interview in a year. He has been bombing his own people. The world is in complete chaos. Gas stations are taken over by militia. You can't find food without having to barter with people or tell people what side you're on in the fight. Two sides, by the way, that we're not sure what they're fighting for. Now this is a movie kind of like a quiet place, clover field, children of men to an extent that definitely has some substance, but they're set in the background. There are Easter eggs that you can find on TVs or newspapers or in passerbys having a conversation and I enjoy that stuff. And again, I really enjoyed this movie. I do think it needed to go a little bit further though with some of the conflicts. As it stands, this is my favorite movie of 2024. We are pretty early on in the year. I assume it's going to get dethroned at some point because I just have to hope there's something a little bit more substantial that's going to come out. Civil war was incredibly well shot though. This movie really puts you into the action without having to resort to shaky cam or something that makes it more visceral. Instead, it just gets you up in the front lines with these reporters as they risk their own lives to get these shots. Now it also tells you a little bit about these people without going into detail. Obviously to be in a job like this, you have to have a bit of that high octane energy to your name. You have to enjoy what you're doing to an extent. You also have to turn off all emotions or you're going to compromise yourself. So when you see one of your friends get killed, do you help them out or do you stay back and take the photo and move on like a fly on the wall instead of a participant in the war itself? Again, that's going to bother some people when some really disturbing moments take place and our character Lee is going to have to make a choice whether to step in and try to help or just stay back. There are a couple musical choices that I thought worked really well, one of which took me completely out of the film at first, but it slowly made its way back for me. Just some odd decisions that creatively I think did pay off, especially a sequence where Lee and her coworkers are driving through a forest fire. The way the embers are slowly moving with the music is just haunting. It's beautiful, incredibly well shot. This movie's rated R. There is some intense moments. How the whole movie is really intense if you're invested in these characters. I was kind of like on the edge of the seat watching this the entire time hoping that they would get out alive or hoping that this war would come to an end. But yes, there is some disturbing imagery in this movie. Now again, as for the commentary, there's going to be people that go into this and they already have a mindset of what the movie is trying to say about the state of the country. They're going to say whatever they want online regardless of what the movie's actually trying to do, which is really focus on these characters that are out there getting the stories. Everything else is going to be noise for people. They're going to look at things through their biased lens and they're going to take away what they want from the film. Some people are going to say it's horrible because it's portraying people this way. Others are going to say it's great or bad for the exact same reason. I didn't see that one way or the other. Again, I almost wished it went further with some of that stuff. But as it stands, this movie is very much a film that can withstand the test of time because it didn't pick a side in our current political landscape. It opts to be generic. So it's a film you really can take 10 years down the road, 20 years down the road, look at it, and still apply some of the politics of that time period with what's going on in the movie. And so in that sense, it's kind of brilliant. And that's about all I have to say about Civil War. I thought it was very well made, easy watch for me. I could definitely watch it again. Not going to be for everyone, but how many movies really are at the end of the day. Overall, an easy win. Highly recommend it if that's your sort of thing based on what I've said. And again, I would highly recommend subscribing to the channel, liking the video, doing whatever you need to do to help me grow. I would appreciate it. And hopefully I see you next time.