Santiago Cely

Some spoilers. I was hoping to see a much better developed film seeing as how it is about a civil war in modern day United States. I can understand why the writers did not want to delve deep into the reasons of the war or explain who was on whose side and why, (they probably should have) but there are many holes in the plot. Rather than developing what could have been a great film, Civil War takes you on a road trip along 4 journalists from NY to DC wanting to interview the president of the United States in the middle of a civil war, really? Im thinking that the middle of a civil war is maybe one of the times when the president of the United States would not be available for an impromptu interview from some random folks driving a ford excursion. Not saying that journalists shouldn’t cover the war itself or the communications coming from the conflicting parties. Back to the journalists road trip, Joel, one of the journalists was initially adamant about not taking Sammy (a veteran journalist) on the trip but somehow had no issue at all taking a 23 year old journalist, whom he just met the night before, into a war zone for no good reason. ? When they get to the war zone, only 3 of the 4 journalists initially in the car are left, and none of them seem to have a phone with video capabilities or a video camera. Instead, they decide to use vintage black and white photo cameras to cover the seizing of the White House during a civil war?? Why?? They go through the most extreme dangers on their trip to take old school black and white pictures when they get there!!! ??? Even if the internet network was supposedly damaged at the time, at least one of them should have taken video even if it meant storing it and making it available later or in other parts of the world. All the buildings in the movie seemed to have working lights to charge cameras and whatnot. And they’re driving a big truck all the way there. Also, California and Texas are allies in this scenario? Again, a lot of missing context and lack of background. Lee, who is the main character journalist, is supposed to be tough “seen-it-all” kind of journalist and acts the part until they get to DC where she breaks down and can’t seem to get it together while Jessie, the 23 year old inexperienced journalist broke down and threw up the first time she saw someone get killed in the trip but somehow turned into a journalist made of “steel” in DC running and dodging shots all over the place while taking the black and white pictures in her vintage camera… A lot was left on the table regarding development, plot, possibilities… I’m not even going to discuss the end. Save your money and time. BTW I have really liked other A24 movies. I don’t know what happened here.