There’s going to be a Civil War on the 2024 movie schedule, as A24’s latest film from writer/director Alex Garland is another movie poised to make audiences think while they panic. As the Kirsten Dunst-led drama has finally revealed more details of its secretive plot, the result is a trailer that looks like a weaponized panic attack that’ll take audiences by storm. And thanks to that impression, that’s exactly why I can’t wait to see this movie.
First, let’s lay down the basics. In the footage provided above, in a United States of the not too distant future, a second civil war is in progress. With states seceding yet again, and combat erupting on our domestic homefront, a war journalist (Kirsten Dunst) makes her way through the country covering those tensions. That sounds simple enough, and even Civil War’s logline seems pretty cut and dry, as this is how A24 has described the story:
A race to the White House in a near-future America balanced on the razor’s edge.
That sort of verbiage sounds more like watching election night coverage than an all out war on American soil. But at the same time, it’s absolutely fitting after watching the trailer to Civil War. However, this is the medium of cinema, and seeing/hearing this world in action is where the panic really starts to set in, as far as I’m concerned.
For the most part, Alex Garland is the kind of creator that likes to dive into the world of high concept sci-fi movies; as we’ve seen in Ex Machina, Annihilation, and most recently Men. However, Civil War technically hews closer to his work on one of the 100 best movies of the 2000s, the horror classic 28 Days Later.
With both films following a group of travelers trying to make a perilous journey through a vastly changed landscape, and questioning who they can really trust along the way, that familiar DNA is part of what intrigues me so much. And with a cast that includes Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jesse Plemons, and Nick Offerman, that reality is only further primed to be realized in convincing detail.
The other component that has me amped to be potentially frightened by Civil War is the fact that it’s quite possibly Alex Garland’s most grounded movie ever. Even something as bittersweet as Never Let Me Go had a sci-fi angle that distanced itself from the world we live in.
While that never scaled back the scares, action, or heartbreak that we’ve seen in his filmography, Garland’s new concept looks like it’s ripped from the world at large. Especially when the imagery used to promote the film includes this chilling teaser poster:
That’s where the panic attacks will most likely come from in Civil War, especially since Garland has honed his skills at commenting on the modern world through more outlandish means. Taking that knack and applying it a world that seems so similar to our own is scary could make for some really upsetting and tension filled moments.
With that being said, one could say that this is the purpose of stories such as this, and as a sucker for a good allegory that hits close to home, I can’t wait for this movie to make me think…in the moments I remember to breathe. Civil War breaks out in theaters on April 26, 2024; so we'll all have plenty of time to prepare ourselves.
In the meantime, if you want to check out what upcoming movies are set to close 2023 out on a strong note, that information is readily available too. Think of it as a nice break from anxiety inducing fictionalized conflicts hitting close to home.
