Civil War
2024 · Directed by Alex Garland
Original language: English
- war
- action
- drama
The story
In the near future, a group of war journalists attempt to survive while reporting the truth as the United States stands on the brink of civil war.
What it’s like
Cold, dusty daylight and hard shadows, with a palette leached toward grey, khaki and bruised green, the look of a country that has stopped bothering with colour. Long, watchful takes follow a small convoy along empty highways and through ruined towns, and the camera often sits at a journalist's eye level, steady and unflinching rather than jumpy. Sound does much of the work: gunfire arrives suddenly and flatly, long stretches are filled with road hum, wind and the clink of camera gear, and the score stays sparse and low. The vibe is taut, numb and quietly dread-laden, the mood of a long drive where nobody is quite safe. Pacing is patient with sharp eruptions, and the emotional register stays detached and observational, following a young photographer slowly confronting what she is documenting and the veteran who taught her to look. Violence is frequent and sometimes graphic, with bodies, executions and war-crime imagery shown directly, though rarely lingering for gore's sake; it lands as shocking and disturbing, with real fear throughout. Not a gentle watch. Suited to viewers who want serious, unsparing war drama and don't mind bleak, morally uneasy images.
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