Set in a dystopic present day, Alex Garland‘s new movie, Civil War, dares to bring to life what an actual military conflict would look like on American soil. A nation-wide fracture has been threatened repeatedly in recent years, and Civil War appears to show exactly what that would entail for the country at large.
Here’s everything we know about Garland’s latest for A24:
Plot
A24 is continuing to play the plot of Civil War very close to the chest. A new trailer offered little in the way of details, but it did include a notable mention of the “illegal secessionist government” of the “Western Forces of Texas and California.” Something sparked a full-on military excursion rife with missiles and troop deployments, and we’re guessing Nick Offerman’s POTUS is at the heart of that conflict.
While director Alex Garland is known for his mind-bending sci-fi tales like Ex Machina, Annihilation, and Devs, he’s been presenting Civil War as a departure from his usual fare that goes for a more straightforward approach that delivers on its title.
“Civil War is a war movie – a contemporary war movie,” he told Screen Daily. “It was a staggeringly difficult film to shoot.”
Here’s the official synopsis, but again, don’t expect to learn much about what could possibly happen to make Texas and California join forces, but it would have to be pretty big.
A race to the White House in a near-future America balanced on the razor’s edge.
What made the blue state and red state suddenly like each other? Tell us!
Cast
Civil War stars Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Jesse Plemons and Nick Offerman. As of this writing, not even their character names are available, but we have been able to glean some rough ideas from the trailers. Dunst plays a hardened photojournalist who knows her way around a warzone, Plemons is a soldier for an unknown side in the conflict, and Offerman plays the President of the United States, who is somehow serving a third term. That Constitution-defying move could be the spark for the nationwide battlefront. Moura and Spaeny’s roles are unspecified, but they seem to be citizens just trying to survive the war with Dunst as their guide (or vice versa).
Release Date
Civil War is breaking out early. Originally, the film was set to release on April 26. It will now storm into theaters two weeks early on April 12.
Trailer
In late February, A24 dropped a new trailer for Civil War that, once again, keeps the central conflict vague. (Although, Nick Offerman’s POTUS comes off even more foreboding, which lends itself to theories that he’s installed a tyrannical government.) While plot details are scant, the new trailer does go heavy on the action and the realistic spectacle of watching America turn into a warzone from D.C. all the way to Los Angeles.
Civil War arrives in theaters on April 12, 2024.