Civil War Trailer Shows America Falling Apart In Sci-Fi Thriller Future
A24 just released the trailer for Alex Garland‘s upcoming sci-fi parable Civil War, and it’s insane. The trailer presents a not-too-distant future where the United States of America has devolved into a dystopian hellscape. In other words, it looks like a 2026 documentary sent back in time somehow.
Shots of chaos in the streets and armed soldiers everywhere give the trailer a bit of a Purge vibe.
America is already divided right down the middle ethically, morally, and politically. Garland just fast-forwarded to the part where the military gets involved. Civil War, which the trailer says to expect in the spring of 2024, couldn’t have come at a better time. Next year is an election year, and if the last US presidential election is anything to go by, it may be America’s last.
The Civil War trailer sets up its dystopian scenario by telling the audience that 19 states out of the USA’s current roster of 50 have succeeded. There’s also mention of a union between Texas and California, along with a shot of an American flag with only two stars on it. Honestly, the idea of the ultra-liberal California teaming up with the super-conservative Texas might just be the most unrealistic thing about the trailer. Meanwhile, shots of chaos in the streets and armed soldiers everywhere give the trailer a bit of a Purge vibe.
Caught in the middle of the turmoil is Kirsten Dunst, a war journalist shocked by the fact that she’s seeing such carnage in her own backyard. Dunst appears to be making her way to the capital to try and figure out what exactly is going on. Co-star Stephen McKinley Henderson, however, tells Dunst very ominously that journalists are being shot on sight in Washington, DC.
Garland, writer of 28 Days Later (2002), Dredd (2012), Ex-Machina (2014), and last year’s Men, knows the right way to marry science fiction and social commentary without sacrificing action and entertainment.
Perhaps most eerie are the shots near the end of the Civil War trailer of armed soldiers storming the capital in what looks like a sequel to the real-life insurrection that took place in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021. In fact, the whole trailer feels like Alex Garland’s take on what happened in the aftermath of Donald Trump losing the last US Presidential election.
In any other writer and director’s hands, Civil War would run the risk of being too on the nose. Garland, however, writer of 28 Days Later (2002), Dredd (2012), Ex-Machina (2014), and last year’s Men, knows the right way to marry science fiction and social commentary without sacrificing action and entertainment. This latest film looks to be no exception.
Civil War, which the trailer says to expect in the spring of 2024, couldn’t have come at a better time.
It will be interesting to see when Civil War opens next year, just which audience it caters to, and whether it will attract largely conservative moviegoers or those with more liberal sensibilities. Perhaps the movie, much like the trailer, plays it mostly down the middle in an effort to appease the two halves of America.
In a country where it is getting harder and harder every day not to pick a side, it’s a safe bet that Alex Garland is rooting for a specific team. We’ll just have to wait until the spring of 2024, when Civil War debuts in theaters, to find out which team.
