Hop Film: Civil War
Kirsten Dunst powerfully embodies a veteran war photographer in Alex Garland's adrenaline-fueled thrill ride through a fractured near-future America.
Kirsten Dunst powerfully embodies a veteran war photographer in Alex Garland's adrenaline-fueled thrill ride through a fractured near-future America.
From filmmaker Alex Garland (Ex Machina) comes a journey across a dystopian future America, following a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach DC before rebel factions descend upon the White House.
After years of using her camera in war zones around the world, beleaguered war photographer Lee (Kirsten Dunst) now must confront the violence and chaos she hoped her images would warn Americans against. She and fellow reporter Joel are determined to interview the president (Nick Offerman) and capture his defeat. Tagging along on this intense road trip through war-torn America are a grizzled veteran (a phenomenal Stephen McKinley Henderson) and an ambitious amateur (Cailee Spaeny) who idolizes Lee.
The genius of Garland's film is that it provokes questions about what might cause a second American Civil War, but does not provide any exposition to satisfy that curiosity. Instead, Garland draws the factional lines (with California and Texas aligned) in a way that defies assumptions based on current political realities, but still feels all too possible. Buried beneath this grim dystopia, there is an almost utopian vision of journalism—which in the age of misinformation seems crucial to protect.
