Civil War is a new action/sci-fi film from the mind of Alex Garland who has given us films like Ex-Machina, Annihilation and unfortunately Men as well. Garland has always been a fresh voice for me in the indie space but ever since Men my faith in him had dwindled. However, Civil War looks intriguing given its outstanding cast (Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Jesse Plemons, Cailee Spaeny, Nick Offerman, Stephen McKinley & Sonoya Mizuno) and premise. Garland seems have to gotten everything right with this film, I just hope it doesn’t turn out to be an ensemble cast disappointment. Well, at least the critics are speaking positively about the film.
Civil War (2024) Reviews – A Bold Tale That We Hope Doesn’t Become Reality!
Civil War has debuted with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 88% and it currently stands at 83% from 18 reviews. The overall reception for the film has been positive but there are a few reviews that highlight where the film lacks. Read the reviews below:
Paul Lê (Tales from the Paulside) – “Garland’s direction is more studied and intimate than ever. A far cry from earlier promotion making the film out to be mindless entertainment.” Original Score: 3.5/5
Ed Travis (Cinapse) – “Civil War is an intense and profound cinematic experience that uses its medium to shake us violently in hopes that its fiction doesn’t become fact.”
David Sims (The Atlantic) – “Though Civil War is told with blockbuster oomph, it often feels as frustratingly elliptical as a much smaller movie. Even so, I left the theater quite exhilarated.”
Katie Rife (indieWire) – “It’s a return to form for its director after the misstep of “Men,” a film that’s grim and harrowing by design. The question is, is the emptiness that sets in once the shock has worn off intentional as well?” Original Score: B
Adrian Horton (Guardian) – “Garland’s Civil War gives little to hold on to on the level of character or world-building, which leaves us with effective but limited visual provocation – the capital in flames, empty highways a viscerally tense shootout in the White House.” Original Score: 3/5
Matthew Monagle (The Playlist) – “Alex Garland suggests, then eventually, the abyss will take the good and the bad alike. That makes “Civil War” the movie event of the year—and the post-movie group discussion of your lifetime.” Original Score: A-
Robert Daniels (Screen International) – “Civil War features jaw-dropping battles that rattle and hum, foregrounded by a bleak, devil-may-care desire to consume, report, forget, and remember — captured through a jarring poeticism that would be wholly admirable if it weren’t so hard to take in.”
Kristy Puchko (Mashable) – “As was true in Men, Garland’s epiphany feels shallow, as if delivered from an outsider looking in.”
Jacob Hall (Slashfilm) – “”Civil War” is less about the politics of right now, and more about the horror that accompanies a world beyond politics, where all meaning gets lost in gunfire and smoke.” Original Score: 8.5/10
Valerie Complex (Deadline Hollywood Daily) – “The film’s execution, hampered by thin characterization, a lackluster narrative, and an overreliance on spectacle over substance, left me disengaged.”
Kate Sánchez (But Why Tho? A Geek Community) – “By choosing to come into the Civil War at the end of it, Alex Garland boldly chooses to simply use the War as a backdrop and let his characters carry his pro-journalist message loud and clear.” Original Score: 8.5/10
Perri Nemiroff {Perri Nemiroff (YouTube)} – “Alex Garland’s latest is wholly consuming. An epic but deeply intimate piece that uses the experience and motivations of a group of military-embedded journalists to highlight the deeply chilling reality of living in a world that never learns.” Original Score: 4.5/5
Chase Hutchinson (TheWrap) – “Though the portrait we get is broken and fragmented, in its final moments “Civil War” still manages to uncover an ugly yet necessary truth in the rubble of the old world. Garland gets that great final shot, but at what cost?”
Peter Debruge (Variety) – “It’s the most upsetting dystopian vision yet from the sci-fi brain who killed off all of London for the zombie uprising depicted in “28 Days Later,” and one that can’t be easily consumed as entertainment.”
Lovia Gyarkye (Hollywood Reporter) – “A subversive and unsettling exercise.”
Richard Whittaker (Austin Chronicle) – “Garland’s masterful and shocking script is counterbalanced with his quiet, mannered direction.”
Tasha Robinson (Polygon) – “A thoroughly engaging war drama that’s more about people than about politics.”
David Fear (Rolling Stone) – “Civil War offers a lot of food for thought on the surface, yet you’re never quite sure what you’re tasting or why, exactly.”
Civil War will release in theatres near you on April 12th, 2024.
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