‘Civil War’ delivers deep excitement but remains muddled in its political message

‘Civil War’ delivers deep excitement but remains muddled in its political message

The details of “Civil War” don’t make sense — it’s hard to imagine California and Texas agreeing on much, much less seceding — but that’s not really the point of writer-director Alex Garland’s deep horror. Images of the US turning into a war-torn country provide a depressing dystopian backdrop for an action film that works on that level, without lingering in the mind as long as it could or should.

In fact, Garland may be best known for cerebral sci-fi films like “Ex Machina” and “Annihilation,” but “Civil War” goes in a different direction, fueled by a sense of danger at every turn. A quartet of reporters make the trip – in a vehicle labeled “PRESS” in capital letters – heading from New York to Washington, D.C., where the White House and a president (Nick Offerman, briefly) who has bombed his own citizens are under siege. by something known as the West Team.

The reporters include two world-weary types, well-traveled combat photographer Lee (Kirsten Dunst) and reporter Joel (Wagner Moura, of “Narcos” fame), as well as a rookie photojournalist (“Priscilla’s” Cailee Spaeny) and a grizzled veteran. (Stephen McKinley Henderson) who joined him, much to Lee’s dismay.

Released at a time when social media-amplified political voices in America have rarely sounded angrier or louder, the title and subject matter alone anchor Garland’s film as a profoundly provocative and unsettling concept. The plot, however, forgoes any background that might delve into those aspects in favor of an episodic journey across a landscape defined by stark visual progressions, from barren highways to sections littered with abandoned cars and corpses.

While the film establishes a culminating if vindictive mentoring relationship between the two photographers, “Civil War” thus boils down primarily to anxious moods and individual moments, fueled by compelling sound design and music. Of those encounters, none proved more horrifying than the one involving a random soldier, one of whom was played by Dunst’s real-life husband, Jesse Plemons, who asked a reporter, “what kind of American” they were.

In some respects, “Civil War” feels like a missed opportunity for things not addressed, content to let the jarring notion of a war movie on American soil — like watching “Platoon” or “Full Metal Jacket” — speak for itself.

Until the audience is left to grapple with unspoken questions, “Civil War” represents something of a departure from the nature of Garland’s previous films. Because although this alternative future has a great effect from being rooted in reality, what the director has delivered is less about political commentary or issuing some kind of warning but, basically, a horror film.