With the release of the first trailer for Alex Garland’s latest film Civil War, there are several key elements that need to be deciphered. Garland’s ambitious and potentially controversial cautionary film is backed by popular independent production company A24 in what appears to be its first major blockbuster effort. With a reported budget of $75 million, which is still on the lower end of traditional Hollywood studio blockbuster production costs, Civil War will be a bold introduction for A24 into the competitive world of widely distributed commercialized content.
Starring Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Jesse Plemons, and Nick Offerman as a tyrannical United States President, Civil War appears to be a fearless take on an extreme but potentially plausible form of American dystopia in which 19 states secede from the country. The Western Forces, led by the unlikely alliance of Texas and California, have militarized under a new American flag with two stars as opposed to 50. There is also mention of a Florida Alliance and a glimpse of several U.S. factions shown in the Civil War trailer, which includes Washington, Montana, Georgia, Louisiana, and Minnesota as some of the states that seceded.
Civil War Trailer: California & Texas Wage War With The US Army As American Landmarks Fall
A24 debuts the first trailer for the company’s upcoming movie Civil War, starring Kirsten Dunst and written and directed by Alex Garland.
Why The US Is Fighting Itself In Civil War
As of the time of writing, the only information available about the plot of Alex Garland’s Civil War is presented in the first trailer released on December 13. 2023. The reasoning behind the seemingly bizarre alliance of Texas and California in the film points to the notion that the war isn’t over Democrat and Republican politics but more about Offerman’s corrupt three-term Presidency. The United States federal government has apparently disavowed its allegiance to the United States Constitution and is now held under the budding dictatorship of Offerman’s tyrannical President.
In order for a state to legally secede from the U.S., it would need the approval of 34 other states, indicating that California and Texas likely seceded illegally in Garland’s Civil War. At first glance, it appears that the Western Forces are fighting against the rise of a totalitarian government under Offerman’s Presidency rather than over any differences in political ideology. The Western Forces could also be uniting and fighting over a water shortage crisis or the conflict could have something to do with capitalism, tax rates, and the tech sector. Most of the major tech companies in the U.S. such as Google, Amazon, and Tesla, are in the fictionally seceded states such as California, Texas, and Washington.
How The United States Is Divided In A24’s Civil War Movie
Based on a backward map displayed at the 0:40 second mark in the Civil War trailer, the entire East Coast remains a part of the United States. The westernmost states that have apparently not seceded are Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico, which indicates that the war is likely not over a water crisis since those are three of the driest states in America. The southernmost state that has not succeeded based on the Civil War trailer appears to be South Carolina. Alaska and Hawaii are also either neutral parties or still a part of the United States.
The biggest question mark from the Civil War trailer, other than which side is fighting for the right reasons, is how the Western forces have been able to militarize to a point where they have military-grade helicopters, humvees, weapons, and supplies. A military camp shown in the Civil War trailer (see gallery above) appears like it’s part of the United States Army but flies the two-star Western Forces flag. This raises the question of who is supplying the Western Forces with such advanced equipment and implies a potential third party or a privately funded military. The trailer shows aerial bombings of New York City, indicating that the U.S. military is fighting for the President.
Which Side Are Civil War’s Main Characters On?
The main characters in Civil War, played by Dunst and Moura, are photojournalists who are likely trying to capture the events as objectively as possible. The trailer does state that journalists were getting killed in Washington D.C., hinting that Dunst and Moura could end up on the side of the resistance or at least feel more comfortable with the Western Forces. Offerman’s President appears to be a fascist dictator who is intent on forming a totalitarian government. He is apparently willing to destabilize his own country to impose an anti-American sovereignty in Alex Garland’s Civil War.
Civil War
Civil War is a 2024 action thriller from writer and director Alex Garland. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, and Stephen McKinley Henderson, Civil War takes place in the near future and shows the United States entering a new Civil War after California and Texas attempt to separate from the country.
- Release Date
- April 26, 2024
- Director
- Alex Garland
- Cast
- Kirsten Dunst , Wagner Moura , Stephen McKinley Henderson , Cailee Spaeny , Jesse Plemons , Nick Offerman
- Rating
- R
- Runtime
- 195 Minutes
- Genres
- Action , Drama
- Writers
- Alex Garland
- Studio(s)
- DNA Films
- Distributor(s)
- A24
