There’s an argument to be made that thought-provoking writer/director Alex Garland is the most influential sci-fi filmmaker of his generation. He wrote Danny Boyle’s “28 Days Later“(2002) and “Sunshine” (2007), Mark Romanek’s “Never Let Me Go” (2010), and “Dredd” (2012), and then he made the jump to directing with daring movies like “Ex-Machina,” “Annihilation” and the horror “Men” (not to mention the excellent futurism drama, “Devs” for FX). Next up for Garland is the mysterious “Civil War” for A24, which has been mostly held under wraps until now. It’s also, per Garland’s own words, maybe his last directing effort; we’ll see.
‘Civil War’: Alex Garland Says His Follow-Up To ‘Men’ Will Be His Final Film.
Garland has described the film as a companion piece to “Men” (read our review) and has suggested it’s intensely political in nature. Last year, he said the film was “set at an indeterminate point in the future— just far enough ahead for me to add a conceit—and serves as a sci-fi allegory for our currently polarized predicament.”
Garland also suggested it’s a film that could anger viewers much in the same way “Men” split some critics. “Look, I’m not expecting everyone to like it,” he said when “Men” was released. “I know when I put something out there if it’s going to p— a bunch of people off. The film I’m making now [‘Civil War’] is also going to wind some people up.”
“Civil War” stars Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Cailee Spaeny, Karl Glusman, Sonoya Mizuno, Jonica T. Gibbs, and Jess Matney; many of these actors repeat players from his aforementioned “Dev” series (which is really terrific and deeply underseen). Jesse Plemons and Nick Offerman have minor appearances in the film too.
Now, the first trailer has arrived, and we can see the movie definitely looks like it takes its cues from imagining a scenario that spiraled out of hand after January 6 (and or at least influenced by the torn nature of America during and post-Trump). It seems like part war film, near-future drama, and part road trip where Kirsten Dunst is clearly playing a war photographer shooting inside a war zone on her way to the White House. Only now, the war zone is America itself. Here’s the official, very brief synopsis:
A race to the White House in a near-future America balanced on the razor’s edge.
A24 is releasing “Civil War” in theaters and IMAX everywhere on April 26, 2024, which basically means if it hits a film festival first, that’s likely SXSW. Or, if it’s like A24’s strategy with “Beau Is Afraid,” which came out April 2023 around the same time, it’ll bypass that circuit altogether. Watch the new trailer below.