Civil War

Que Garland no convierta esto en un blockbuster era obvio. Sin embargo, no estaba claro cómo su hábil equilibrio entre la realidad y las dimensiones más allá de la percepción humana beneficiará a una película de la que se supone que se basa únicamente en la cruda realidad. Civil War tiene grandes escenas con tanques y helicópteros, pero carece del asombroso concepto de cámara que nos brindó Alfonso Cuarón en Hijos de los hombres, y que aquí era necesario. En el núcleo, Civil War es simplemente una "road movie" íntima a través de una América destrozada, con tres periodistas experimentados y una joven periodista junior, cuya inocencia contrasta con la desgastada experiencia y profesionalismo de los demás. Nuestra pregunta, por qué una chica tan joven está haciendo este trabajo, se responde de inmediato: “Nunca antes había tenido tanto miedo en toda mi vida. Y nunca me he sentido más viva.” ___ Civil War evade el sentimentalismo y el tono oscuro de la historia se aligera con música pop antaña estadounidense, pero carece de la visión artística de Garland, por la cual lo apreciamos tanto. Hay solo una escena genuinamente aterradora, de las que se suponía que estaría compuesta toda la película. Refleja la mentalidad unidimensional de la población americana redneck y destaca en ella Jesse Plemons. El director no intensifica la crudeza con música instrumental oscura, pero sí con el intenso sonido de las armas de fuego. Y aunque atrae y cautiva con los personajes, le faltan conflictos más refinados e inesperados, así como un trasfondo temático que vaya más allá de la advertencia sobre Donald Trump. El final es simplemente ridículo. (17.04.2024)

Recall the three year old event when the Trump mob stormed the Capitol. Alex Garland sensitively and thoughtfully directs this theme, this societal schism, into disconnected mini-stories, with just these aforementioned protagonists (and they don't need a buffalo head to do it) killing because "real fucking America", all of which the protagonists, journalists, follow on their way to Washington. As long it stays in the road movie waters, with lots of iconic scenes, it's great. Unfortunately, Garland flips the switch at the end, and with the arrival in D.C., it becomes a regular war movie that felt like a mannerism in its denouement and showdown. Not only did it leave me cold at the end, but I actually thought "and that's it, Alex?". Too bad, we had the build-up to the movie event of the year, and well, it's not. But still an honest 4 stars (no stripes) for the impressive heaviness and disillusionment with humanity in the first two thirds. (19.04.2024)

A violent nightmare that I dreamed for some unknown reason. Kind of like Children of Men from Wish. Garland somewhat mechanically adorns his shady road movie with random images of a broken America. A number of them are impressive, with powerful visuals and staging (mainly the scene with Jesse Plemons). The film manages to induce anxiety to the point of nausea from a cruel world that is not so far from The Walking Dead in its absence of morality and prevalence of brutality. But…the whole thing seems terribly gratuitous; for all of the questions that the film wants to raise, Garland’s work just shrugs its shoulders and wagers on another spectacular composition. The characters are flat and the ethics and psychology of the war reporters come across as very superficial research. There is little in the way of Nietzschean gazing into the abyss in this film, which paradoxically comes across as terribly thesis-based and illustrative, but it isn’t at all clear what its thesis is or what it actually illustrates. An impressive exercise in unclearly straddling the line between a skilfully made spectacle and a not so skilfully rendered metaphor of a divided country. It’s actually a reiteration of my problem with Garland, a maker of spectacular movies that are dull at their core. (15.04.2024)

Olympic level in the discipline of "inducing a feeling of deep inner turmoil". I haven't seen something so often beautiful, yet repulsive and disturbing in a long time. And my apologies to A24 for wrongly suspecting it of producing a straightforward war blockbuster. It's, of course, another auteur film, just the way we like it. (24.04.2024)

I like Alex Garland's work and even though he makes films that aren't exactly audience friendly, he hasn't stepped on my toes once so far, so I was curious to see how he'd handle a slightly different material, more audience friendly, with a blockbuster format and on a very topical subject, and it's great, though not without its faults. It's a war road movie set in a war-ravaged America with an apocalyptic tinge that has a very slow pace most of the time, but thankfully it works thanks to convincing actors, decent dialogue and an uncomfortable atmosphere. I was a bit bothered that we don't see the birth of the conflict but are thrown somewhere in the middle, and also that the whole film is from a journalists point of view, I would have liked to see what's going on in other parts of America or some behind the scenes from the government on what the president is currently dealing with/planning, but never mind. The highlights are two scenes: the confrontation with Jesse Plemons, which has a very chilling atmosphere and a great build up, and then the finale – I was worried Garland would give us a three-minute shootout but he surprised us. We actually get more than twenty minutes of military action! A massive attack on the White House and it has it all: amazing sound of weapons, perfect cinematography, gripping atmosphere, in short it looks really dense and authentic, a perfect dreamlike action war finale. Of course, the few naturalistic shots are nice, but there could have been more of them. 80% (20.04.2024)