Genre maven Alex Garland brings us this none-more-timely look at political tensions in the US. Just kidding, it’s a sci-fi war movie. Sort of. But we had you for a minute there, right?
How to watch Civil War in New Zealand
Civil War hits New Zealand cinemas on April 11.
What is Civil War about?
In the extremely near future (think Mad Max rather than Fury Road) the US is wracked by civil war between the fascist government and a separatist coalition led by Texas and California (okay…). In the middle of all this, a small group of war correspondents are trying to cover the conflict, ideally without getting machine-gunned by some rabid militia, indiscriminately drone-struck, or any number of other horrible fates. Garland is looking at the US the way US journalism looks at conflicts in other countries here, and the effect is impactful to say the least.
Again, we must stress: this is science fiction. But only just, it seems.
The cast of Civil War
Kirsten Dunst is famed war photojournalist Lee, Elite Squad‘s Wagner Moura is her colleague Joel, Priscilla‘s Cailee Spaeny is inexperienced correspondent Jessie, Dune‘s Stephen McKinley Henderson is veteran reporter Sammy, Sonoya Mizuno is Anya, Nick Offerman is the President (perfect casting, that) and Jesse Plemons is once again playing an utterly terrifying, soft-spoken, good ol’ boy.
Civil War trailer
Why we’re excited about Civil War
Garland is an absolute gun, having penned 28 Days Later, Sunshine, and Dredd, and also directing Ex Machina and Annihilation—all bangers. The subject matter is certainly timely, right? Plus the whole thing reminds us of a more serious take on Joe Dante’s criminally underseen The Second Civil War, which you really should track down.
The elephant in the room is whether it’ll come across as a smart take on our current awful moment in time, or a ridiculously on-the-nose political parable. Really, it could go either way. But we’ll always show up for whatever Garland’s up to.
