This was a movie which I had wanted to watch since I first learned that it was coming out. But like most movies that come out, it kind of just passed through the theaters more quickly than I thought, so I never got the chance to see it there. Then, I had every intention of renting it....except I just kept putting it off. You know, next time, right?
Well, then we had a new old president's inauguration last week. And I sure as shit wasn't going to bother watching that.
So I decided, finally, to go ahead and stream this movie. Yes, I parted with a few bucks (it cost $3,99, if memory serves correctly), and I finally watched it.
Now the thing is, what I thought was enticing was how it portrayed a civil war breaking out in a very polarized country. And I guess it did. But it did so in a very tame, politically safe and, frankly, overly sanitized way. We never really get an idea about the specifics, other than a president who is outright abusive with his power. He had suspended rights, overstayed his welcome with a third term, and massacred American citizens.
In other words, he is just a bad guy, and everybody can agree with that. So viewers will not be required to risk getting politically offended, or have to question their own beliefs or anything. Because at the end of the day, this movie about a civil war breaking out and both dividing and devastating the United States is about fluff. It's just a fictional. made for entertainment movie that is too scared to deal with actual possible scenarios that might trigger an actual civil war.
That, to me, was very disappointing. Because the way that this film was advertised, it felt that it might address something at least a bit more substantive. We see a soldier asking someone "What kind of an American are you?" with obviously sinister overtones.
I don't know why I should have expected more from this movie. Naively, I had hoped that a Hollywood movie might, for once, show a little more depth (not to mention balls) to actually address the actual reasons for the outbreak of a civil war at a time when the country itself sometimes feels like it is heading towards another civil war.
Nope.
No substance here. Just more entertainment specifically designed so as not to raise any controversy that might hurt profits. Ultimately, this movie is part of the problem in the United States, a symbol of what's wrong with it, in that it is a shameless money grab. The Hollywood equivalent of click bait. It grabs your attention quite deliberately by seemingly addressing something fascinating, dark, even morbid, but which speaks to our realities today. And then it delivers nothing of actual substance. It just gives an adequate show, portraying a war-torn country where the actual reasons for the war are unclear, but not in the least controversial for any mainstream audience. The only party responsible, evidently, is an abusive sitting president who is on his way out, doomed. Presumably, the story ends happily ever after, and the country will return to something resembling normality once the war is over at the end. In other words, it basically glosses over very real issues and divisions, and thus qualifies as fluff.
It kind of made me wonder why I should hope for a glimmer of truth from the entertainment industry, even for a fleeting moment.
At the end of the day, it just felt like this movie was perhaps a small part of what is wrong with the United States, and why we are so polarized. For far too long, we have been sheltered with this perception that we should all, always be in agreement. Generally speaking, though, life does not work like that. The safe distance from political themes in this country went on for a very long time, and it seems like this movie is trying to either keep it alive, or perhaps to revive it. And that, for a movie about a civil war over political divisions breaking out in the United States while there are actual, real tensions which exist in the United States feels, frankly, like a cop out. Weak, and mostly just a morbid glimpse of what a war-torn version of the United States might look like if an actual civil war broke out, but with none of the substance.
Sorry I cannot recommend this movie.
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