For those curious about what this film is and is not, here's a quick summary:
It is a war movie, but it's not about the military.
It isn't action packed, though it has its moments.
It's not a great date movie, a big end-of-the-world movie or a fun-filled buddy adventure, although it has some good visuals and lots of character building moments.
It's political, but not like you'd think, in that parties or factions are not clearly venerated or condemned-it's not the goal of the film at any point to make a clear statement of this kind.
It's bleak, hard, disturbing, occasionally fun, often visually fantastic and sometimes very quick and/or detached from its own "reality".
It's a movie that isn't meant to be so much enjoyed as experienced, and it is, in my opinion, a compelling enough experience as a story to merit a good rating as a result.
Dunst plays cold and jaded veteran photojournalist aiming for a pinnacle moment for both her career and her country. Moura offers a fitting (and much appreciated) counter to her often emotionless, dismissive mannerism. Spaeny, playing a younger version of Dunst's character, provides a window into innocence and the slow degradation of same innocence owing to the brutality of her circumstances. McKinley-Henderson does a fine job of mostly being himself. You've seen him on film, and that's who he's cast as, for the most part. His character, as an aging journalist, is like a thickening agent that allows this ragtag press team to feel like a complete recipe.
Throughout the film, Garland keeps a steady pace, unfolding a story that, as it progresses, is often predictable, but not in a negative way. Rather than twists and surprises in the overall world plot are less interesting than the encounters faced along the journey. He masterfully crafts an ongoing series of situations that effectively incriminate America as a whole, rather than aiming at a faction. His critical lens isn't reserved for the government, or for rural America, but extends into the main characters, provoking hard questions about why we do what we do, what we are fighting for, and ultimately the consequences of that battle on our souls.
It's a difficult movie to watch. I was prepared for some kind of scathing anti-Trump agenda or for a hardline defense of the importance of the press, neither of which were true. I find it difficult to compare, as it certainly has aspects of a good war movie, with pummeling battle sequences, trauma-inducing tragedies and the various terrors which accompany war. But, often, it feels less like a war movie and more like a quest in the guise of a war movie. A quest for a purpose-be it a victory, a photograph, a destination or something to link the threads together-something to give an end to the means of the awful circumstances.
I'm not an Alex Garland fan, nor would I recommend this movie to everyone, but if you are the kind of person who values a critical look into our culture via pure fiction that is, at times, painfully relatable, and if you are someone who doesn't mind a pinch of journalistic integrity, which is to say a lack of clear bias in many cases, this film provides a beautifully harrowing cautionary tale that might make you thankful it's just a movie. Or is it?
It isn't action packed, though it has its moments.
It's not a great date movie, a big end-of-the-world movie or a fun-filled buddy adventure, although it has some good visuals and lots of character building moments.
It's political, but not like you'd think, in that parties or factions are not clearly venerated or condemned-it's not the goal of the film at any point to make a clear statement of this kind.
It's bleak, hard, disturbing, occasionally fun, often visually fantastic and sometimes very quick and/or detached from its own "reality".
It's a movie that isn't meant to be so much enjoyed as experienced, and it is, in my opinion, a compelling enough experience as a story to merit a good rating as a result.
Dunst plays cold and jaded veteran photojournalist aiming for a pinnacle moment for both her career and her country. Moura offers a fitting (and much appreciated) counter to her often emotionless, dismissive mannerism. Spaeny, playing a younger version of Dunst's character, provides a window into innocence and the slow degradation of same innocence owing to the brutality of her circumstances. McKinley-Henderson does a fine job of mostly being himself. You've seen him on film, and that's who he's cast as, for the most part. His character, as an aging journalist, is like a thickening agent that allows this ragtag press team to feel like a complete recipe.
Throughout the film, Garland keeps a steady pace, unfolding a story that, as it progresses, is often predictable, but not in a negative way. Rather than twists and surprises in the overall world plot are less interesting than the encounters faced along the journey. He masterfully crafts an ongoing series of situations that effectively incriminate America as a whole, rather than aiming at a faction. His critical lens isn't reserved for the government, or for rural America, but extends into the main characters, provoking hard questions about why we do what we do, what we are fighting for, and ultimately the consequences of that battle on our souls.
It's a difficult movie to watch. I was prepared for some kind of scathing anti-Trump agenda or for a hardline defense of the importance of the press, neither of which were true. I find it difficult to compare, as it certainly has aspects of a good war movie, with pummeling battle sequences, trauma-inducing tragedies and the various terrors which accompany war. But, often, it feels less like a war movie and more like a quest in the guise of a war movie. A quest for a purpose-be it a victory, a photograph, a destination or something to link the threads together-something to give an end to the means of the awful circumstances.
I'm not an Alex Garland fan, nor would I recommend this movie to everyone, but if you are the kind of person who values a critical look into our culture via pure fiction that is, at times, painfully relatable, and if you are someone who doesn't mind a pinch of journalistic integrity, which is to say a lack of clear bias in many cases, this film provides a beautifully harrowing cautionary tale that might make you thankful it's just a movie. Or is it?