Chapo Trap House: Reviewing Alex Garland's "Civil War" (Ft. Hesse Deni) 

If ever a movie demanded Matt's review...

Anybody else miss Matt so bad

the liberal self-suck over media figures boils down to "Heh, I'LL BE SPARED by the brutes ON BOTH SIDES because I went to college."

I’m weird, but literally my favorite movie. Unintentionally tears down war journalism in the most striking way I’ve seen. Whole movie is not made with this in mind, but my god, interpreting it as journalists being monsters in the face of real human terror, and the kid especially growing into a worthless sack of meat in her actions in the movie… I’m 100% sure it’s just me but it says so much without meaning to

Jeez, these apocalyptic White House assault movies ain't got nothing on the time Ursa, Non and General Zod busted up the place.

A better movie about the media is Nightcrawler. A better movie about western dystopia & fascism is Children of Men. A better movie about war is Come and See. What a way to bonk all 3 on the head.

The worst part is that those guys are effectively useless in modern combat. Everyone has a a gun or bodycam, plus the constant drone monitoring… ironically the only people to still do it are the Palestinian resistance because of their limited means, but even then it’s almost always full video, not « pictures »

Allegedly "Civil War" is an ultra-grimdark "Wizard of Oz" riff.

The Chapo Trap House guys just kicking their feet, giggling, twirling their hair as a fictional US government gets absolutely obliterated.

Really strange take. I mean, they don't respect their press credentials - one of them gets merc'd on a whim. It doesn't portray war journalists as heroes, but as morally drained careerists with varying degrees of narcissism, a trait that gets fully inculcated into the young journo by the close. Garland isn't interested in internal US politics. Instead he's going after the presentation of war, which is why we open with the Prez rehearsing a speech vs the finished product viewed through Dunst's lens. It's not being subtle here. When the pictures get snapped during the mall battle, we get the context between the photos the images themselves lack. When Dunst's character is talking about some pictures being good images, you can tell she is thinking about the commercial aspect. Human suffering as a hook for readers. Her character is absolutely soul destroyed. I've seen people suggest this is a film about LARPING your way into a war, about the danger of crossing over from kayfabe to reality, and the role the press play in this. I think this is an interesting way to view it.

I actually like this movie and believe it gave a harsh critique of journalism, presenting them as doing war crime porn and being overhaul pretty useless

“Soldier kills man”hahaha

Since when did suggesting that maybe committing the war crime of executing prisoners is not a good idea become against journalistic integrity?

supposedly Farcry 5 was pitched to be much more overt about them being a christo fascist group but Ubisoft executives are cowards and were worried about gamergate backlash

Nick Mullen argued that this is a good movie because it's not actually about a civil war it's actually about an artist struggling to express themselves in a time of great social division... or some vague crap like that. honestly the defense of the movie makes it sound even worse than it seems on tue surface. the movie is actually about some spoiled Hollywood manchild director scrolling around on Twitter and feeling slightly alienated.

Gotta love that scene where they’re all in the jeep proposing “hard-hitting” questions to ask the president, and apparently the most consequential are “so why did you seek a third term?” And “How do you feel about disbanding the FBI now?” And I’m just sitting there thinking, ok, so the President is committing genocide and funding suicide bombers to blow up water trucks, but in Alex Garland’s mind that’s still not as bad as Comey losing his job or the Prez pulling an FDR without the Supreme Court’s approval. This is the kind of neo-liberal, borderline libertarian pearl clutching that more or less sunk this film.

FAR CRY 5 MENTIONED

Gotta love the people pretending this movie was profound in any conceivable way. Every excuse for this movie being good is something that could have been described better through a different style of media without the 1hr 50m of dogshit clichés and battle scenes. I want 2 hours of my life and Mr. Cushman back.

Threads is the docudrama film written by Barry Hines (Kes) and Mick Jackson (Volcano). It's the bleakest film.

21:25 His drinking gets his friend killed. He got blackout drunk and told his buddies about the lead. His friends catch up to the crew and the whole mass grave thing happens.

There are definitely satirical elements to Dunst and the Brazilian journo characters. The only hero is the veteran journo and he declares the politics of this movie: the Times and the FBI are good.

Dang it, so this could’ve been a movie spinoff from The Newsroom? And it wasn’t? Crap…

it's always great to listen to guys shouting and laughing

This sounds like the pure cocaine to modern warefare 3’s gas station crack

Based on your Poptarts review, are you sure that Seinfeld didn’t make this movie too?

I was so mixed on this movie. Awful writing and premise combined with good execution of tension and action and some good performances (not all of them though). What bothered me most was that Garland (British) throws a ton of things with real world political associations into a blender and the result is nonsensical and toothless. For example the president is very Trump-coded to me (says things like "people are saying this is the greatest victory in human history!", hates the FBI, apparently did a massacre of Antifa) and yet his base of support is northeastern blue states while most red states (including the entire south and Texas) are in rebellion. IRL Trump's biggest fans wouldn't blink if he ran for a third term; they would be more likely to fight a civil war on his behalf instead of against him for doing so. Another case: the journalists encounter a Hawaiian shirt-wearing militia that codes to us as "boogaloo boys" (a right wing clique), and yet these guys not only welcome a group of tag-along journalists (including women) but go out of their way to respect their craft. Really? Come on. Finally, it's surely no coincidence that the front line of the titular civil war is in Charlottesville, VA, but the cause and stakes and character of the war seem to have nothing to do with our association of Charlottesville, so what's the point of making that allusion? So, toothless... up until the last 30 minutes, which are the most insane I think I've seen in a mainstream movie. The movie might not have a lot to say, but the events depicted are provocative in themselves. Thumbs down for two thirds, then a huge thumbs up.

I don't know. I saw the movie, I don't think it was that positive of a portrayal. thought what the young journalist did at the end was supposed to be a bit of a heel turn

What's funny is that the only people who praise this movie are the "apolitical" types and centrists. Everyone else rips into this movie.

I swear I'm not usually a "this is bad tactics" dork, but i can't get over this thumbnail image. What a dumb place to set up your sniper nest. "Uh hi, we're taking innacurate and sporadic fire from across New York Bay, we're thinking it's probably from the only high point in that direction. Missile is on it's way? Awesome, thanks."

Will mentions that they use their press credentials to get out of getting executed, but that’s not really true, in facts most of the time people don’t seem to care that they are press. This misread of the film kinda cheapens this review. I do agree the last scene really makes up for everything this film does wrong.

It's baffling how they can watch this movie and think it's trying to positively portray journalists. or that making some nerdy hoi4-ass alt-his focused civil war movie would be at all a good idea.

The american Come and See would be more in the vein of Mad Max, even though that is australian. Maybe Mad Max Fury Road or Furiosa

the complaint about a scene of people in a town that's unharmed baffled me, like yeah its bad to not give a shit about an active warzone and act like everything's fine. this movie sounds like a total chore but i genuinely don't understand this particular complaint

Yeah the “journalists” in this movie just wanted to add more pictures to their war porn collection

As soon as this movie revealed that the secessionist army was an alliance between Texas and California I knew it would be toothless dogshit. Instead of focusing on what it should have, The Civil Fucking War, the movie seemed to want to glorify the role of journalism while portraying journalists ignoring war crimes. Incoherent and unfocused, probably the biggest failure to execute on a premise since the first Purge movie

This movie is better than its director's vision for it. The message is "the way we cover foreign wars is utterly simplistic, favors flashy images over context, and no one pays any attention." I dont think it's boring in the least. I liked it. Im not surprised you didnt.

I'm seriously questioning the boys media literacy if they think this was a pro journalist movie.

The downfall of Alex Garland needs to be studied. Man wrote and directed both Ex Machina and Annihilation, two of the best sci fi movies of the 21st century, and wrote 28 days later and sunshine. Dudes filmography is so good, and then he makes this and Men. Just, how?

45:20 - 46:00 And 46:56-47:24 I always picture Will watching the movie like H¡tler in Inglorious Basterds, just psyched out and electrified by witnessing the violence on screen like a materialization of his vision.

I dunno. I kinda liked it. Six and a half stars.

I'm convinced nobody actually watched this movie.

Every criticism I hear of this movie is someone obviously misunderstanding it. So many people watch this with preconceived notions of the intentions of the story and characters, and end up watching it through that lense, instead of watching the movie that it actually is. Don't understand the idea that the movie is praising journalists. The journalists in the movie routinely watch horrible things happen and do nothing to stop it, they even photograph each other's dead bodies. I feel like it's apocalypse now, the young character turning into the colonel Kurtz by the end of the movie. Just a part of the carnage. The journalists at no point make anything better, and if the themes of the story don't match the narrative you think the filmmaker is making, what is it that makes you think that's the point he's making? Everyone seems to dog on this movie by criticizing things that aren't even a part of it. "What's the point of this movie?" Saying the point is journalists=good is like saying the point of apocalypse now is soldier=good. Braindead. I'll even venture to say it's more depressing than apocalypse now because at the end of that Willard rejects the cult, but the only characters left alive in civil war are still determined to carry on the mission of documenting the mediocrity of senseless murder, knowing that they're doing nothing to stop it.

Nothing says "based communist" like thinking it'd be cool if service workers were forced to smoke again.

Every dude with a phone in ukraine is a war time journalist lol

Rare miss from the boys. Some interesting points, but I feel like I'm listening to an edge lord circle-jerk. It didn't glorify journalists, nor did it portray any side as objectively good, and it was surprisingly nuanced overall. I was looking forward to an actual discussion and analysis, because this movie was fascinating. And the subversive needle drops were dope!

Will “The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Seen” Menaker

You even missed the most egregious thing about that climax scene. Dunst's character pushes the girl NOT out of the way( which would be towards the opposite wall), but at a 90 degree angle so she is in the center of the hallway! It was such an obvious set up for the next shot.🙄 I was shocked the director of Ex Machina did this.

At no point while watching the movie did I interpret it as a dick suck for journalists. I interpreted entirely as a criticism of journalism in particularly war journalism. I thought that was intentional. They're voyeuristic callous adrenaline junkies who put other people in harm's way in order to capture the last glimpse of people as they die to further their own ego/persona/acclaim.

15:17 “almost a good movie in the other direction.” Maybe you guys have been heading the wrong way this whole time? Maybe you just nailed it here, perhaps this is a movie about human cynicism and exploitation?

No sqibbs, 0/5

L take. Civil War BOPS and watching DC get chopped up in the last act is the best action scene of the decade so far. I can't for the life of me understand why anyone thinks the journos are "heroes" in this story. And don't come at me with "But alex said an interview they were waaaahhh" just stfu and take the context into account. The message is not "war bad news good" it's "war absurd, news responsible"

Silver Apples inspired Kraftwerk, I think. Super early edm, "experimental". Now you're hard pressed to hear a real instrument.

Generally agree with the review, but really don't get Felix comparing this to Threads (which is a movie and not a mini series, and one of the most terrifying ever made).

say what you will about the message of the movie, but those were the best tracers ive ever seen on film

39:05 he did mention them, but y’all were obv checked out by then

This movie needed far more Spiderman and Upside-Down Kissing 😡

Who is this Matt people talk about?

I have not seen Civil War, and will not pass judgment on it myself, but the way the three of them describe it here makes it sound like Civil War is to journalists what The Bear is to people who work in restaurants.

These pretentious losers are 10 minutes in and their points are utterly inscrutable. They have offered nothing…

46:15 i thought "the reason that something happened in real life is the worst reason to put it in a movie."

This is as embarrassing as Dave Rubin reviewing 1984.

I loved the sountrack.

The Chapo crew didn’t understand this movie is actually a critique of war journalism??

Wait, were the journalists supposed to come off well?

Chappo dropped the ball on this one. Went over their heads.

30:29 Apocalypse Now but the cult are zoomers with blue hair and the leader is Keffals.

Maybe Jessie/Cailee Spanee/Priscilla Presley didn't ask the militia to not kill the guys since she assumed they'd get really pissed off and shoot her or something?

Goddamn they fell off so hard after Matt left.

OT: war photographers for the Associated Press were part of webinars about covering protests in the U.S.after George Floyd Their first advice was to remove any sign that you are press (remove your Velcro PRESS badge from your vest; take off your lanyards) and if you're the writer, don't leave the photographer alone. Because in US protests after George Floyd was murdered, press employees were getting attacked . And I'm kind of surprised that the podcast hosts didn't think of this, but in a setting like the one in this movie- which I have not seen- you would be using film because digital photography is ephemeral. If you shoot on film you have hard copies. You have real tangible documentation. Also, usually when you're shooting on film, it's a lot harder to add content that doesn't exist into the photos. Film is not easy to tamper with when it comes to your final image. I know you guys are young, but that seemed obvious to me.

looked up a clip from this movie for perspective and within the first like 20 seconds wagner moura flashed his Press Pass

Counterpoint: naw. Try again.

Wait, are they agreeing that the president in this movie was a Biden stand-in or a Trump stand-in? Or were they just disagreeing on that? I just heard them say both without objection.

Dogshit review of a great movie.

Long time listener and with this one, ima be out. Impotence.

Ah crap. Now I have to Tor the last 30 minutes.

Don’t quit your day jobs

Great movie review, especially the part where you go to smoke a cigarette half way through the showing and get locked out of the theater. Really just great to hear you shit on something you didnt even finish. Do better

its dumb…but i had a GREAT time

I mean it wasn't "stick with you for life" good, but i thought it was "generic action movie" good. I will also always approach Garland in good faith after Annihilation. I had already heard it was rather vapid, so i just got a big soda and bucket of popcorn, ripped a pen, and enjoyed myself.

48:07 this is so funny

I went into this movie blind (I actually thought it was the kevin costner movie coming out this summer). I thought it was maybe satire except for the nasty looks the person next to me kept giving when I was laughing. I asked the friend I went with if they wanted to leave after the first hour; sadly, they declined and made me stick it out to the end. It was awful. And yet it had a crazy high rotten tomatoes/audience score.... Thank you for making feel like I wasn't taking crazy pills watching this trash.

Hesse got the film

Watch Garland’s Devs

😈 Haha I enjoyed it but not in the way the director intended! 😈

These guys stopped trying, sad

Just tried to watch this and I’m probably gonna turn it off after the first few scenes. What a piece of garbage lmao no way this is what people want to watch.

RIP Leslie Nielsen, you would've been perfect for this movie

Of course a bunch of palettes would misinterpret the movie as supporting journalists and Biden as the president

This has to be a bit

Swing and a miss

Garland has made some good movies. What went wrong? Your assessment of American Sniper is spot on. It should be called Portrait of a Lunatic instead.

Nah this movie was good

I liked it 😢

I mean tbh it make sense why chapo would have this take. The movie goes out of its way to stay a-political and is more of a study on art/photojournalism/American culture of violence than politics (ie our heros, the journalists, aren’t always heroic) Also there was some genuinely impressive cinematography and action sequences. Edit:Love you guys, but y’all really did miss the whole point of the film. It’s so interesting how a perspective can change the whole meaning of a film.

I think Chapo needs to be retired.

time to check in with the loser left

The fact that i used to listen to these guys and find them funny and profound... hurts. In reteospect, this show was a aignificant part of the lowest point of my adult life. Irony poisoned yapping and self satisfied smirking chortles are all they can offer.

And Chapo has another shit take. The downfall of Chapo Trap House has been so severe it's almost funny

Is anyone impressed by this smug routine anymore? JFC man.

A24 studio lost me for good with Everything Everywhere all at once. that was the worst movie ive ever seen. Extremely childish and extremely pretentious at the same time, a horrible combination. And it swept the Oscars proving that they're an even bigger clown show than i already knew. I am personally boycotting A24.