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Alex Garland – 'Civil War' movie review

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Alex Garland – 'Civil War' movie review

Alex Garland – ‘Civil War’

Based entirely on the story unfolding in a dystopian America that’s become embroiled in the titular conflict and releasing the same year as a presidential election, Alex Garland‘s Civil War was always going to be a lightning rod for controversy and hot-button discussions.

Although that may not have been the filmmaker’s intention specifically, the increasingly divided nature of politics in the United States made it an inevitability. However, it’s hard to see where the battle lines can be drawn between the typical ‘red’ and ‘blue’ party divides when the movie is so intentionally evasive of what ignited the Second Civil War in the first place.

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Politicians barely factor into the story, either, with Nick Offerman’s dictator-like incumbent of the White House not even being given a character name. In one respect, he exists solely to drive the story forward in that he’s a three-term president pitting countryman against countryman on his watch, but it’s impossible not to see the parallels between the erstwhile antagonist and a certain Home Alone 2 star.

Garland may paint the battleground in broad, nationwide strokes, but the narrative zeroes in on those with their boots firmly on the ground. Kirsten Dunst’s photojournalist Lee Smith and Wagner Moura’s reporter Joel embark on a road trip to Washington with Stephen McKinley Henderson’s veteran Sammy and Cailee Spaeny’s aspiring photographer Jessie in tow, trying to make it to Washington for the story of a lifetime before the commander-in-chief is overrun and executed for his crimes.

That’s the entirety of Civil War in a nutshell from a storytelling perspective, which is no bad thing by any means. Dunst outwardly projects the personality of someone immune to being knee-deep in a warzone, but that gradually reveals itself to be a façade. Joel thrives on being in the thick of the action, Sammy urges caution having been around the block several times over, while Jessie finds herself torn between the visceral thrill of living her dreams and the harsh realities it brings.

The quartet bounce off each other effortlessly as they navigate the increasingly hostile terrain, with deafening gunshots, thunderous explosions, pinned-down snipers, and a scene-devouring mass murdering Jesse Plemons all contributing to paint the picture of a country divided what may well be beyond repair.

There’s no explanation given for why the Civil War started in the first place, and the opposing forces are loosely divided into Texas and California, uniting as the ‘Western Forces’, where they defeated the ‘Florida Alliance’ along the way. Putting two such politically opposed states together to combat a fascistic leader feels like Garland urging the audience to look at the bigger picture, but it’s never made clear enough what that bigger picture actually is or what it’s supposed to mean in the grand scheme of things.

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Civil War tries to stay as apolitical as possible, but that regularly puts it in direct opposition to what it’s trying to say. The president doesn’t get a name, the other side of the conflict doesn’t get a name, the political parties don’t get a name, and only a scarce few of the characters outside of the central four get names, but that deliberate muddying of the waters makes it hard to gain a clear understanding of the overarching events outside of the journalists.

That’s kind of the point, in fairness, with Lee, Joel, Sammy, and Jessie remaining objective in the face of the horrors they witness. On a micro level, it’s hauntingly effective in conveying how they – and, by extension, society at large – have become numb to the terrors of everyday life. On a macro level, though, obfuscating why things have devolved to such an extent that the president has ordered airstrikes on civilians leaves too many questions unanswered for Civil War to land with maximum impact.

It’s a visceral, hard-hitting, and intensely immersive thriller that’s close to flawless on a technical level. It’s also another sign that Garland is one of the most distinctive visualists working today, but as much as exposition can often be the death knell of any movie with a lot on its mind, Civil War would have benefitted immensely from leaving a lot less unsaid.

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Movie Reviews

Movie Review | Ryan Gosling shines in sloppy slice of summer fun

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Movie Review | Ryan Gosling shines in sloppy slice of summer fun

Surely, Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir has had easier gigs.

Watching “The Fall Guy” — the big-screen take on the 1980s TV fave about a Hollywood stuntman who worked on the side as a bounty hunter that this week kicks off the summer movie season — you can’t help but think of its editor.

“The Fall Guy” is many things: an homage to the show; a romance; a vehicle for stars Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt; a large-scale action flick; and a love letter to stunt performers — those who do the dangerous work or, as the movie suggests early on, get to do “the cool stuff.”

It is big, and it is messy, but Ronaldsdóttir has helped mold it into something that, while lumpy and misshapen, is more entertaining than not.

This isn’t her first cinematic rodeo with director David Leitch, having collaborated with him on hit movies including such winners as 2017’s “Atomic Blonde” and 2018’s “Deadpool 2,” so she surely knew what she was signing up for.

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It is, of course, entirely fitting that Leitch sat in the director’s chair for “The Fall Guy,” as he once was a stuntman himself. Famously, he was Brad Pitt’s stunt double on 1999’s “Fight Club.”

Here, the stuntman is Gosling’s Colt Seaver, the movie borrowing the name of Lee Majors’ hero from the TV series, which ran from 1981 to ’86.

When we meet Colt, he’s at the top of his game, specializing in being the stunt double for Hollywood megastar Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Leitch’s “Bullet Train”). On the set of a big movie — Leitch and another frequent collaborator, director of photography Jonathan Sela, appear to take great pleasure in showing off the scale of such a shoot with a couple of elaborate shots — Colt is about to perform a huge fall.

On the way up to his starting point, he flirts via walkie-talkie with camera operator Jody Moreno (Blunt), the two talking about how, after the movie wraps, they could grab a couple of swimsuits — or, as a Brit such as herself would say, “swimming costumes” — hit a beach somewhere and enjoy a few margaritas, as well as the bad decisions to which they lead.

The fall goes badly.

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Eighteen months later, Colt, perhaps more psychologically damaged than physically so, is out of the stunt game, making a living by parking cars for a Mexican restaurant. And, having long ago pushed away a caring Jody, he is a walking pile of regret.

When old producer friend Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham of “Ted Lasso”) calls, asking him to be a last-minute fill-in on a set in Sydney, Australia, he declines. She then tells him it’s for Jody’s directorial debut and that his old flame requested him.

He says he’ll need an aisle seat.

Upon arriving at the shoot and set to do a car stunt known as a cannon roll, he complains about the sand on which he’ll be driving on — it’s, um, not dense enough — to another old pal, stunt coordinator Dan Tucker (Winston Duke of “Black Panther”), who coaxes him into the car.

The stunt goes well, save for Colt destroying a camera tracking his car, but Jody is shocked to learn he is behind the wheel. She did NOT, in fact, request him.

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Unable to kick him off the project, she instead sets him on fire repeatedly for one scene. Between these hot takes, her frustration via bullhorn over what happened in their relationship under the thinly veiled guise of talking about the lead characters in her epic science-fiction romance flick, “Metalstorm.’

At the end of the day, Colt gets into a truck, cranks a Taylor Swift song, thinks about their time together and cries — at least until Jody catches him. They talk, and while it’s clear feelings still exist between them, they agree to keep things very “profesh.”

Colt soon has bigger problems than Jody, as Gail has secretly recruited him to find the movie’s missing star, the aforementioned Tom Ryder. She convinces Colt that to save Jodie’s movie, the cops must be kept out of it, and he agrees to take on the task.

From here, “The Fall Guy” keeps things really loose, Leitch and writer Drew Pearce (“Iron Man 3,” Leitch’s “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw”) prioritizing action and gags over clear storytelling. (Hey, it’s now summer at the movies — what did you expect?)

As Colt works to uncover the mystery of Tom’s disappearance, Gosling does a lot of the heavy lifting to keep “The Fall Guy” from falling apart. He brings some leftover “Ken”-ergy from the cultural event that was last year’s “Barbie,” for which he earned a well-deserved nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He nails every important line read with great Kenfidence, er, confidence.

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One of the movie’s issues is that Jody becomes a glorified background player, not the best use of the talents of Blunt, a four-time Oscar nominee including for her work in the other half 2023’s “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, “Oppenheimer.” “The Fall Guy” would have benefited from a setup that gave more time with its leads together. (One of the movie’s many meta moments has them talking via split-screen as Jody talks about its potential use in her movie, Leitch deciding to educate us on that filmmaking choice and others.)

So, OK, “The Fall Guy” leaves you wanting a bit more, but it succeeds as a two-hour excuse to shove buttery popcorn into your mouth.

And those hoping for a nod to the show beyond the initial offering of closing credits, which feature the “Unknown Stuntman” theme song from the show, should stick around for an extra treat.

Yes, “The Fall Guy” makes a bit of a mess of things, but it sure has fun doing it.

“The Fall Guy” is rated PG-13 for action and violence, drug content and some strong language. Runtime: 2 hours, 6 minutes.

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The Fall Guy review: The Ryanaissance continues, while Emily Blunt shines in this screwball comedy

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The Fall Guy review: The Ryanaissance continues, while Emily Blunt shines in this screwball comedy

In cinemas; Cert 12A

Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt in ‘The Fall Guy’

Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) was the best stuntman in the business before a nasty accident derailed his career. There is always a way back and, after a tetchy film producer reaches out, Colt agrees to dust off his jumpsuit for a big-budget sci-fi epic directed by his ex-girlfriend, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt).

An awkward situation, and it gets weirder: the film’s leading man, Tom Ryder (Aaron ­Taylor-Johnson) is missing, and its producer Gail (Hannah Waddingham) thinks he may have fallen in with the wrong crowd. It’s up to Colt, then, to track him down, save the movie and win back the girl of his dreams.

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Loosely inspired by the Lee ­Majors TV series, The Fall Guy makes a lot of noise, some of it not entirely unpleasant. Come for the fist-fights, the explosions, and the self-aware punchlines; stay for a classy screwball comedy about a broken-hearted filmmaker and her bumbling stunt performer.

The Ryanaissance continues, and Gosling is having the time of his life here. Blunt, meanwhile, is the beating heart of this daft presentation. David Leitch’s film is far too pleased with itself, but our handsome leads make it work.

Three stars

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Movie Reviews: ‘Challengers’

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Movie Reviews: ‘Challengers’

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