My Review of "Civil War (2024)"

Civil War (2024) is a drama that came out in 2024 to a little bit of good press. A lot of people were talking about the wrong types of controversies about this movie. I think they did this purposely to get people interested in this movie. Still it seemed like an interesting enough movie to tackle so I decided to check it out.

The movie starts out with an understanding that the president of the United States of America had overreached his powers. This isn't very clear as to how or why he did what he did. All we know is that there is a divide in the country and this has created an upheaval. With this great division in the country there is a new civil war outbreak.

We then get introduced to our lead characters who all happen to be journalists. First we have Lee, the grizzled veteran. She's having a bit of an existential crisis as she's already deep into her career and wonders what's next. Then we have Joel, the enthusiastic veteran. He's partnered up with Lee to go to the White House in order to interview the president. Next we have the real main character, Jessie. She's very green at phot journalism and idolizes Lee. Finally, we have Sammy the journalist at the brink of retirement. He's seen it all and he's up for one last big adventure.

All four of these journalist meet up in New York at a hotel and decide to take a road trip together to Washington. That's basically the front line of all the action. Each one of them are at different stages in their careers and we see them grow as they're learning from one another. This movie starts out with Lee but only to let us know what the job of journalism is.

The real bulk of the movie is the exploration of Jessie's understanding of this career she's hoping to take on. Each scenario they're all placed in shows her a different aspect of the job. It can be horrifying, dangerous but ultimately she discovers her love for the job. In finding her love for the job she becomes more and more enthusiastic and ambitious. The others kind of see themselves in her as well.

While all this is happening we also build a bit of a loving friendship between each of the characters. We have a good understanding of why they're doing what they're doing. Their motivations are all a little bit different. We obviously know Jessie's but why would Sammy want to be involved at such an old age other than just really loving what he does. The more interesting character is Lee. She's constantly having an existential crisis trying to figure out why she's doing what she's doing. This gets further exacerbated when she sees Jessie's growth and development.

Really this movie could have been based anywhere and it could have worked. I believe they used the United States as a backdrop only to get butts into seats or have some sort of vested interest in it. If this was about some foreign country with a similar civil war I don't think as many people would have been as interested in it. There's no real talk about politics or anything it's more concentrated on the four characters and how they're navigating their careers.

There are a lot of visually gruesome scenes in this movie. It's all part of telling the horrors of what journalists have to see when they go into war. I honestly don't see the appeal in doing such a job but Jessie kind of gets it because I guess it makes her feel alive.

Overall, I actually really liked this movie. Theoretically this movie doesn't sound like it would work but it shockingly works well. At no part was I bored. Each moment and scene is constructed to help the next scene. I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next. It's not a movie that I would watch over and over again but it was entertaining enough the first time around. That's why I have to give this one a 7.5 out of 10.