Khoi Vinh’s review published on Letterboxd:
In the same way that this review I’m writing is not really a complete, coherent review, Alex Garland’s latest movie is not a complete, coherent movie. Well, to be fair, “Civil War” is a far better movie than this is a review, but it’s also not the artistic statement that Garland seems to think it is. The first two-thirds are basically “28 Days Later” set in a civil war; it’s hard sometimes to remember that it’s not a zombie movie, or it would be if not for all the clunky exposition explaining what Journalism is and how journalists practice it. The last third is much, much better, but then the climatic battle that comprises it is mostly just an extremely well executed action set piece. Garland does manage to let his characters shine in the last act more than in the first two, but overall he seems not particularly interested in who they are or what makes them complex beyond their single, defining character traits: jaded angst (Stewart), macho thrill-seeking (Moura), sage wisdom (Henderson) and naked ambition (Spaeny). In fact, the meager character development joins a list of Things that Garland Is Conspicuously Not Interested in Examining. Other items include the relevance of imagining a civil war to the real world circa 2024, which by now has been well debated. But just as importantly, Garland seems disinterested in the actual journalism as well; the movie is focused almost exclusively on the vicarious thrill of shadowing combatants in wartime, tuning out the ethics of embedding with armed forces, the process of turning observation and photographic images into actual stories, the role of those stories in the way war unfolds, and the impact of those stories on the world at large—not to mention the viability of journalism as a trade. That’s a really extensive list of things that Garland excuses himself from addressing, and the film is noticeably poorer for it.
Saw it at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown Brooklyn, where the video projection seems to be looking more and more like video all the time.
' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_664e659f-f416-42a2-a836-d300a707c8b2" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-664e659f-f416-42a2-a836-d300a707c8b2'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div -tile300x250 -alignleft -bottommargin'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'med_rect_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-664e659f-f416-42a2-a836-d300a707c8b2'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-664e659f-f416-42a2-a836-d300a707c8b2'));
' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_c0263cda-4532-487e-aca7-d5e0be40ba63" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-c0263cda-4532-487e-aca7-d5e0be40ba63'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'sky_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-c0263cda-4532-487e-aca7-d5e0be40ba63'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-c0263cda-4532-487e-aca7-d5e0be40ba63'));
