Warning: This article contains some spoilers for the film “Civil War.”
It was a movie trailer seemingly designed to inflame the current political era.
In one shot, the Lincoln Memorial blows up. In another, the president says that the “Western Forces of Texas and California” have been defeated by the United States military. And Washington, D.C., is where journalists get killed “on sight.”
Months after the release of the trailer, Alex Garland’s “Civil War” opens in theaters this weekend. Reviews have been mostly positive, with the movie scoring 84% on RottenTomatoes with both critics and audience members, and 78% on Metacritic.
It remains to be seen whether the provocative advertising will translate into box-office riches — or the kind of heated discourse that sometimes accompanies films that probe American politics.
Set in a near-future version of a divided United States, the film follows a group of journalists (played by Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson and Cailee Spaeny) as they trek through a wasteland of empty cities and deserted roads to Washington. There, they follow The Western Forces — led by California and Texas — who attempt to infiltrate the White House and bring down a dictator-like president (played by Nick Offerman).
The film’s timing could not be better — or worse, depending on the perspective — coming months before a presidential election that pits President Joe Biden against former President Donald Trump. America’s political temperature remains high, stoking some discussion among academics, the far right, think tanks and outside observers of whether the country is headed toward another (real-life) Civil War.
For Garland, who wrote the film four years ago, the film’s timing isn’t the point.
“I think all of the topics in [the film] have been a part of a huge public debate for years and years,” he said at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, where the film premiered in March. “These debates have been growing and growing in volume and awareness, but none of that is secret or unknown to almost anybody. I thought that everybody understands these terms and, at that point, I just felt compelled to write about it.”
He later told the Hollywood Reporter that he does feel “it’s odd” to release the film during an election year, but noted that he wrote it “not just about this country, but about a weird state we’re in” and that the film has “to do with division, polarization and extremism.”
A spokesperson for the film said Garland was unavailable for an interview.
Despite online debate around the film, some critics wrote in their reviews that they felt Garland was almost too vague about the film’s politics.
Viewers are left wondering what actually led up to the Civil War. They are only provided small hints at what may have happened — like a remark made in passing by one of the journalists that the president had disbanded the FBI.
The film’s distributor A24 — which reportedly spent $50 million to make the film — appears to be leaning heavily into a marketing campaign surrounding political discourse.
In one Instagram post promoting the film, the studio asks viewers to “pledge” their allegiance, showing a map of the fictional futuristic America.
In another Instagram post, A24 encourages viewers to upload a selfie and a line answering the question “What kind of American are you?” The post refers to a jarring scene in the film in which an armed character in military dress played by Jesse Plemons poses the question to the group of journalists as he holds them at gunpoint on the side of a road.
The film’s main poster shows people with guns at the top of the Statue of Liberty pointing in opposite directions.
A24, which has become known for its quirky film-related merch, is also selling shirts with its signature logo but in green and featuring outlines of soldiers.
At a screening event held at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles in early April, Garland preferred to let the film speak for itself.
“I’m not going to introduce the film because … there’s nothing really to say about it,” he said in brief remarks before introducing the cast. “I hope you find it interesting.”
The crowd — a mix of Hollywood A-listers, reporters and others in the entertainment industry — applauded the end of the film, which showcases the journalists achieving their goal: getting the final quote.
