Just so readers know, “Civil War” is a brand new movie. It has nothing to do with Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War,” which was the top grossing movie of 2016.
Production company A24 brings us this new “Civil War,” which topped box-office returns with $26 million in its opening weekend (April 12-14), according to box-office results posted on IMDb.com.
Though, this action-thriller is like dry white toast.
It’s unfulfilling, like a nothing meal. We never know which political party the president of the United States (Nick Offerman) represents.
Also, this movie turns into a giant road trip for all the characters. For some reason they all want to get to Washington and speak to the president face-to-face.
Kirsten Dunst (“The Power of the Dag,” “Melancholia”), who is really good here, portrays Lee, a freelance photographer who’s in the middle of the action during serious political turmoil.
Lee is the main character. Wagner Moura plays Joel, another photographer. He’s also in the press car, along with Stephen McKinley Henderson’s (Sammy) and Jessie (Cailee Spaeny). Lee saved Jessie from a potential death situation early on in the drama.
Along the journey, the main characters encounter some radical trigger-happy military types of unknown origin.
The plotline is very riveting because the audience doesn’t know what’s going to happen.
It’s a throwback to a bad Cannon Group movie like “The Delta Force” from 1986. It also reminded me of “Super 8,” directed by J.J. Abrams, that mixed action and mystery and even threw in a little sci-fi in 2011.
“Super 8” was also an ensemble piece featuring characters who had to work together with the military to achieve the end results of the storyline.
Alex Garland was in the director’s chair for “Civil War.”
I liked his other movies better than this one. “Annihilation” (2018) and “Ex Machina” (2014) had a more stylized storyline and more intriguing characters.
I liked “Civil War,” but I didn’t love it. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either.
Grade: C
