Civil War:
The movie probably isn't about what you think it might be. It's trying to be an honest portrayal of what the violence you see on the news in Ukraine and Israel or anywhere would like like here.
This is a road trip movie that bears a ton of similarity to Apocalypse now and Heart of Darkness. A group of combat/war journalists are racing to get to DC so that they can interview and photograph the President before the Western Alliance kills him. Along the way they encounter people and places that show us how badly the nation has unraveled, while it's clear that other parts are trying to pretend that nothing is happening. The violence and dysfunction that they encounter is contrasted by the mentality of this group of "pure" reporters. They take pictures of what is happening and then let other people decide what it all means and what is right and wrong. For them it is all about getting the shot. This is the subtle cleverness in this film. Because people going into it expected one thing, but instead got an examination of Journalism Ethics and a somewhat questionable statement that journalists are now the only sane people left.
The writer smartly shuffled things up. Floriduh, Texas and California seceded. The split doesn't seem to happen on the lines that would make sense through the lense of our current politics, its not Red or Blue, left or right. In fact, since both sides seem to be wearing the same uniforms (with one exception) they went out of their way to make things seem as ambiguous as possible. Both sides are not above committing what most people would agree are war crimes.
To give another really specific example, there is gun battle scene between one group of troops and another group of Bros wearing Hawaiian shirts. If you don't know, Hawaiian shirts have become de riguer among groups of white supremacist militias. But in this movie the Bros are led by an Asian and has some African Americans in it.
I think the purpose behind the shirts was twofold. It's meant to jumble things up and to be stick in the eye to the wackjobs.
The President is clearly a Totalitarian who abolished the FBI and bombed American Citizens and we don't know why and we do now he's on his third consecutive term. He resembles most of the Totalitarian Dictators that you know of. The opposition takes no prisoners and they are fabulously equipped. Texas is one of the main players. And I thought one really brilliant touch of authenticity was that many of their helicopters had 1st Cavalry Division markings all over. And yes that's exactly what it sounds like to be under a bunch of CH-47s doing their thing. But all of the helos were CGI so the effects were pretty amazing.
