Civil War

Jesse Plemons is consistently terrifying because he has perfected the portrayal of our time's most fearsome person: a man who only cares for himself. He can convey this in a single stare and word, and he wins the scene.

The final set-piece of this film was worth all the rest and honestly could maybe stand on its own. I appreciated the avoidance of political detail as beside-the-point; the goal was to show how it would feel to navigate a divided American landscape.

From my early career in photojournalism, I think I'm a bit pre-disposed to be harsh on this portrayal. I know I shouldn't expect them to get everything right, but I was distracted at times by camera goofs (especially in the climactic scene). I also think this could have dug further into the moral complexity of embedded journalism. The film itself felt a bit voeyeristic on journalism and the twice-removed nature felt shallow at times.