"Civil War" warns but doesn’t inform

Writer/director Alex Garland’s new film “Civil War” is just that, about a U.S. civil war. Don’t look for any issues beyond learning that California and Texas, yes, those two alone and together, have. As a dystopian reality terrorizes the country, four journalists undertake a road trip from New York to Charlottesville, Virginia, front lines of the rebellion.

Eventually experienced Reuters photographer Lee, her friend Joel, Jessie (a naïve, aspiring journalist who idolizes Lee), and expert reporter Sammy will head to Washington, D.C. with the intent of interviewing a third term, autocratic President taking refuge in the White House. The harrowing encounters include tense confrontations with a suicide bomber, a hidden sniper, a mass grave, two journalist friends who initially terrify the quartet in a car chase, and in D.C.’s urban warfare. The ferocious, admittedly suspenseful violence, accompanied by ear-splitting sound, dodges any engagement with what might antagonize today’s polarized political camps; that is, no theoretical content intrudes beyond the lauded press hoping to make a difference for those who ignore reality, Missouri specifically called out.

Nevertheless, watching the Lincoln Memorial blasted, other D.C. sites demolished, protestors beaten, and callous militiamen murdering impactfully delivers nerve wracking moments. In addition, several flashbacks to unnerving events Lee’s covered, such as South African apartheid violence of an individual burned with a tire necklace (as they were called), add some historical context. But the plot involving Jessie is entirely predictable as is the fate of veteran photojournalist Sammy, as appealing as Stephen McKinley Henderson’s presence is. And who except Jessie shoots on film, rather than digitally, and develops it on the road?

How do the characters discuss and/or attempt to solve this situation? They don’t. Instead, the film indulges fear and anger about such a situation. In interviews, director Garland and Kirsten Dunst, who plays Lee, have called this film “a warning,” which I hope it is instead of an escapist nightmare akin to some horrors on the real evening news. “Civil War” is available now. Check listings.