My issue with Civil War isn't Garland's refusal to overtly telegraph his stance on our political divide, it's that the movie needed perhaps 30 more minutes of running time to more fully flesh out its characters, and a better script editor.
I had a problem with the whole premise of the film to start with. It didn't bother me that we were dropped in the middle of the conflict. Indie films do that sort of thing all the time. My issue was with the fact that these veteran journalists decided that for some reason they'd be the ones to get access at a time when "journalists are shot on sight" in DC. So what was their strategy? Oh, they didn't have one. They'll figure it out as they go. OK, sure.
In the first few minutes of the film, Lee tells Jessie that next time she sees her, she better be in a flak jacket and helmet. Then, for some reason I apparently missed, our protagonists basically spend the rest of the film sans helmets, and even enter a war zone in the last half of the film helmetless, while the military around them is in full armor (you know, because everything around them is getting destroyed and shrapnel and debris are flying everywhere).
During the last sequence, Lee is totally broken down, and unable to move forward. She's completely losing it, despite being one of the most experienced of the group. Then, just as suddenly, she's just fine, and has a complete handle on the situation and proceeds to (spoilers follow) lead the group into the "last line," where their target isn't protected in the areas we know exist in the White House, but is shockingly pretty much right out in the open, awaiting his fate.
And don't even get me started on the ending. Jessie is green, but she should know better than to take the action that she did that leads to the ending. It was just a totally stupid move and I'm shocked more critics aren't blasting it.
I haven't seen Wagner Moura in any other films, and I hope not to. I don't know if he's just a bad actor, if he was miscast, or if the material was just lacking, but his character seemed superfluous.
The Jesse Plemons scene was the best in the film, and major kudos to the sound designer, who had me literally jumping out of my seat at a couple points with a well timed shot-scare.
Maybe I had too high hopes for this film. I considered Garland my favorite director, and thought Men was just a misstep. I was so frustrated and maddened by the stupidity of Civil War that I'm now reconsidering all the flaws of his prior films that as a fan, I was able to overlook.
The way that the gunfights played out was very visceral. I can’t remember the last time I jumped from someone being shot. The film did that very well. It definitely felt almost like more of a character study on war journalist but became slightly unbelievable in my opinion. Taking that picture of her mentor role model she had just gotten killed felt unrealistic. At the same time I felt like there was an irony to the entire war journalism of it all. Like we were the viewers needing to capture that shot of violence while not being a part of it ourselves. Speaking to the further desensitizition we have to witnessing horrors on screen and in the news.
My issue with Civil War isn't Garland's refusal to overtly telegraph his stance on our political divide, it's that the movie needed perhaps 30 more minutes of running time to more fully flesh out its characters, and a better script editor.
I had a problem with the whole premise of the film to start with. It didn't bother me that we were dropped in the middle of the conflict. Indie films do that sort of thing all the time. My issue was with the fact that these veteran journalists decided that for some reason they'd be the ones to get access at a time when "journalists are shot on sight" in DC. So what was their strategy? Oh, they didn't have one. They'll figure it out as they go. OK, sure.
In the first few minutes of the film, Lee tells Jessie that next time she sees her, she better be in a flak jacket and helmet. Then, for some reason I apparently missed, our protagonists basically spend the rest of the film sans helmets, and even enter a war zone in the last half of the film helmetless, while the military around them is in full armor (you know, because everything around them is getting destroyed and shrapnel and debris are flying everywhere).
During the last sequence, Lee is totally broken down, and unable to move forward. She's completely losing it, despite being one of the most experienced of the group. Then, just as suddenly, she's just fine, and has a complete handle on the situation and proceeds to (spoilers follow) lead the group into the "last line," where their target isn't protected in the areas we know exist in the White House, but is shockingly pretty much right out in the open, awaiting his fate.
And don't even get me started on the ending. Jessie is green, but she should know better than to take the action that she did that leads to the ending. It was just a totally stupid move and I'm shocked more critics aren't blasting it.
I haven't seen Wagner Moura in any other films, and I hope not to. I don't know if he's just a bad actor, if he was miscast, or if the material was just lacking, but his character seemed superfluous.
The Jesse Plemons scene was the best in the film, and major kudos to the sound designer, who had me literally jumping out of my seat at a couple points with a well timed shot-scare.
Maybe I had too high hopes for this film. I considered Garland my favorite director, and thought Men was just a misstep. I was so frustrated and maddened by the stupidity of Civil War that I'm now reconsidering all the flaws of his prior films that as a fan, I was able to overlook.
The way that the gunfights played out was very visceral. I can’t remember the last time I jumped from someone being shot. The film did that very well. It definitely felt almost like more of a character study on war journalist but became slightly unbelievable in my opinion. Taking that picture of her mentor role model she had just gotten killed felt unrealistic. At the same time I felt like there was an irony to the entire war journalism of it all. Like we were the viewers needing to capture that shot of violence while not being a part of it ourselves. Speaking to the further desensitizition we have to witnessing horrors on screen and in the news.