When I saw the trailer in the cinema a few months back, I was really excited to see this movie. Yes, there are a few issues with the premise, the idea that California and Texas would team up against other parts of the US - having lived in Texas and Cali I know they're two very different states.
However, the real problem with this movie is that the title is really click bait. I was expecting a film about a civil war in the US, but what I got was a really really slow movie about a war photographer and an aspiring war photographer on a road trip that happen to bump into a few looney rednecks.
All in, I was genuinely bored through most of this movie. I remember looking around the cinema thinking how many empty seats there were and, ah so that's where the speakers are!
The movie only really becomes more action packed toward the last quarter. The ending scene is pretty good, there are some excellent battle scenes, and it's more shocking that it's blue on blue. In fairness the last 20 minutes has some of the best battle scenes I've seen, hence I gave this movie a 6 as the last 20 minutes literally saved this film from being a solid 2.
So, other than the last 20 minutes battle, what is this movie really about? Well, it's about a seasoned war photographer who encounters some new 'kid' photographer that wants to learn the craft. The backdrop of the civil war is never explained. You have no idea who is the 'good side' and who is the 'bad side'. You don't know why it happened, who to root for, how big the sides are. Because of that, this literally could have been a movie about a war photographer in Rwanda or Serbia. It's also very slow imo. It's largely a road trip across parts of the US in which the photographers and journalists drive through towns and meet small numbers of looney people with guns - think The Walking Dead on a slow episode.
The worst thing about it is the story arc is predictable. You can pretty much guess where this is going to lead, spoiler, the old veteran photographer who won't risk anything to help the young upstart risks everything I was pretty much eye rolling in the final moments because it was very obvious what was going to happen.
Overall, I felt cheated - it was bait and switch. I thought I was getting something intense, some deeply thought out civil war in the US movie, characters on either side you could root for, but no, just a bit silly road trip, with the last 20 minutes giving the movie a very visually impactful battle scene.
However, the real problem with this movie is that the title is really click bait. I was expecting a film about a civil war in the US, but what I got was a really really slow movie about a war photographer and an aspiring war photographer on a road trip that happen to bump into a few looney rednecks.
All in, I was genuinely bored through most of this movie. I remember looking around the cinema thinking how many empty seats there were and, ah so that's where the speakers are!
The movie only really becomes more action packed toward the last quarter. The ending scene is pretty good, there are some excellent battle scenes, and it's more shocking that it's blue on blue. In fairness the last 20 minutes has some of the best battle scenes I've seen, hence I gave this movie a 6 as the last 20 minutes literally saved this film from being a solid 2.
So, other than the last 20 minutes battle, what is this movie really about? Well, it's about a seasoned war photographer who encounters some new 'kid' photographer that wants to learn the craft. The backdrop of the civil war is never explained. You have no idea who is the 'good side' and who is the 'bad side'. You don't know why it happened, who to root for, how big the sides are. Because of that, this literally could have been a movie about a war photographer in Rwanda or Serbia. It's also very slow imo. It's largely a road trip across parts of the US in which the photographers and journalists drive through towns and meet small numbers of looney people with guns - think The Walking Dead on a slow episode.
The worst thing about it is the story arc is predictable. You can pretty much guess where this is going to lead, spoiler, the old veteran photographer who won't risk anything to help the young upstart risks everything I was pretty much eye rolling in the final moments because it was very obvious what was going to happen.
Overall, I felt cheated - it was bait and switch. I thought I was getting something intense, some deeply thought out civil war in the US movie, characters on either side you could root for, but no, just a bit silly road trip, with the last 20 minutes giving the movie a very visually impactful battle scene.