I’m gonna spoil the movie, so if you care, it’s probably best if you stop reading here because I’m not putting the entire thing in spoiler tags
So, long story short, Civil War is a beautifully made film that’s also cowardly and disappointing
The cinematography is great, the sound is excellent, but the movie lacks something very important, an actual message
If the movie is supposed to be about truth and journalism and its importance, that never comes through, instead it feels very much like “The Troops are Brave: Camera Edition”
Because at no point in the film does the actual work journalists do comes up, instead you’re treated to scene after scene of our protagonists taking pictures of war and atrocities, but never actually saying anything about it, which seems to be the tack the film itself is taking
That war is bad, but never bothering to explore the how’s and why’s of the conflict
The most hints we get as to why the president is bad is a mention that he has a third term (gasp) and ordered air strikes on civilians
Which, uh, I suppose is enough for some people, but the vociferousness with which the forces of the aptly named Western Forces pursue and execute the president suggest something far more interesting, which the movie could not even be bothered to even try and explore
To make a film about the United States becoming balkanized without bothering to even offer a smidgen of backstory as to its causes or even into the politics of the sides only serves to make the film a hollow shell
We’re left with nothing to the film, and it seems like they’re not even bothered by that, which is an absolute shame because they could have at least tried to say something
Instead, they chose very hard to say absolutely nothing, which only makes the apathy all the worse
There’s a scene at the tail end of the movie where the young tagalong photographer (Jessie) jumps out of cover, hoping to get a shot of the president
Unfortunately, the few remaining Secret Service agents start opening fire, so the older photographer(Lee) jumps out to push her out of the way, taking the barrage instead, while the younger one takes a picture of her hero dying
The scene is supposed to be a callback to when Jessie asked Lee if Lee would take pictures of her if she were shot and Lee said “Yes”
The problem is that the way it’s filmed, it looks like Lee shoves Jessie out of the way and just stands there to get shot
Not that she was actively being shot, or couldn’t get out of the way, but just chooses to be shot
I suppose that moment was trying to say something, but as my partner so poignantly put it “Why the fuck didn’t she just tackle her out of the way?”