‘Civil War’ review round-up: Kirsten Dunst is ‘stone cold’ in Alex Garland’s ‘best film yet’

On April 12, 2024, A24 released “Civil War,” a dystopian film following a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach DC before rebel factions descend upon the White House. The film written and directed by Alex Garland stars Oscar nominee Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson and Nick Offerman. 

Early reviews for the movie have been overwhelmingly positive, holding fresh at 87% on Rotten Tomatoes. The critics consensus reads, “Tough and unsettling by design, ‘Civil War’ is a gripping close-up look at the violent uncertainty of life in a nation in crisis.” Read our full review round-up below. 

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Siddhant Adlakha of Inverse says, “An upsetting sensory experience accompanied by thundering cacophonies and paralyzing scenes of war and savagery so vast, intense, and overwhelming that you can practically taste the gunpowder lingering in the air.” Adding, “The leading trio represents a singular trajectory, along which Garland may well find himself as a filmmaker capturing increasingly intimate images and experiences…Dunst wears quiet despondency on her face in every scene, just behind a stone-cold exterior that seems ready to crack. PTSD flashbacks to war zones in Africa and the Middle East see her photograph gut-churning war crimes, which Garland captures with shocking and upsetting realism.”

David Crow of Den of Geek notes, “It’s a re-contextualization of America’s obvious fault lines through the prism most civilians are used to: the bleak yet somewhat staid and orderly framing of black and white photographs that might appear on an evening news broadcast any given night.” Adding, “’Civil War’ is undoubtedly a movie that courts and will find controversy. The picture will be debated in news columns, dismissed by talking heads on cable, and reviled by some quarters of social media. Yet it is Garland’s most evocative and haunting work since ‘Annihilation.’ And it achieves the queasy reaction it aims for. Even though there will be those who say it is alarmist and ‘could never happen,’ the film comes out in the first presidential election year since the Jan. 6 insurrection, and the first since surveys showed more than a third of Americans indicated a ‘willingness to secede’ from the Union.”

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Matt Donato of Collider states, “Alex Garland’s ‘Civil War’ feels stressfully pertinent and ominously ambiguous in its stances about America’s past, present, and future. It’s not the militaristic action-thriller A24’s marketing trailers are selling. Garland’s screenplay dutifully explores the rushes and trappings of combat journalism set to our vulnerable nation’s downfall, which stays more in the background. Not only that, but Garland is playing with fire — releasing ‘Civil War’ within months of 2024’s election is a choice that brings insurmountable real-world implications. It’s hard to tell whether the film means to be a violent warning or a bleak prediction (fathomably both). Still, at the end of it all, as complicated and combative post-screening discourse will undoubtedly become, ‘Civil War’ stands attentively as Garland’s best film yet.”

Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting praises the film, stating, “The constant onslaught of foreboding tension and stunning documentary style prowess in capturing the raw horror ensure a breathless, potent piece of filmmaking.” Concluding, “Alex Garland frames the war through the eyes of those who document it. The war itself is painted in broad brushstrokes, aside from some minor early dialogue that reveals that many states have seceded, the third-term president (Nick Offerman) is expected to surrender, and that key states have formed separate alliances. Garland avoids any specificity or commentary about what drove the country to war or the political dimensions that contributed. Instead, the filmmaker focuses on how it affects those who are forced to swallow their humanity to effectively do their job, even when it consistently puts them in grave danger.”

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