The discourse sure to result from the release of Alex Garland’s sobering action drama Civil War (A) is akin to the elucidating actions of his central quartet of war correspondents and photographers: simply, it’s all about the processing. Garland’s brilliant film documents several days in America’s fictional second civil war through the lens of journalists struggling to survive as the U.S. government has become a dystopian dictatorship and partisan extremist militias regularly commit war crimes. Garland is opaque about the motivations and beliefs of the two sides fighting, with few political signifiers distracting the mostly neutral press from simply chronicling the events as they see them. In addition to being an exacting and efficient war movie, it’s also an illuminating multi-generational road trip with Kirsten Dunst’s measured war photographer, Cailee Spaeny as her accidental apprentice, Wagner Moura as the gonzo chaser-dude and Stephen McKinley Henderson as the sage pragmatist thrust in the middle of a war zone together. All four actors are sensational, with Dunst earning VIP status for her grizzled and guarded portrayal of a woman who can only see clearly when brandishing her camera. The film is a stunning spectacle of shock and awe with nary a false note as the four disparate characters encounter traumatic, heartbreaking, grisly and surprising episodes along their fractured odyssey. Still-frame snapshots often punctuate profound moments within action sequences to amplify  the horror and humanity. Garland also physically and metaphorically thrusts his actors into extreme settings to maximize turns and themes, and the film’s final showdown ups the intensity with an epic infiltration into familiar territory to make nearly any viewer question personal allegiance. This is a motion picture designed to stir up conversation; hopefully those who embark on the resultant discussions will be as clear-minded as this skilled filmmaker in addressing the matters at hand.

The “tonal” eclipse arrived early. Despite early buzz comparing the film favorably to Rocky, RRR, John Wick and Die Hard, the India-set revenge thriller Monkey Man (C), directed by and starring Dev Patel, is Jai-ho-hum. Other than the intrigue intrinsic in the exotic location, there’s not much creative or new going on in this picture. Patel is unsteady as both auteur and actor, although he deserves kudos for the sportsmanlike effort. The film’s politics feel defanged and rushed while the grisly action sequences often go nowhere fast. Patel, usually such a lithe and literate presence, is a man of few words as a young man avenging a crime against his family who sets his sights on toppling the top echelon of his nation’s government. Neither of his alter egos as a prizefighter festooned in ape mask nor his street fighting dishwasher with king-fu moves are as interesting as occasional flashbacks with his mother, played by the lovely Adithi Kalkunte. The protagonist is loosely inspired by the legend of Hanuman, a Hindu deity who leads an army of monkeys against the demon king Ravana. The story from epic poetry symbolizes defiance against oppression and may remind viewers how much more effective The Green Knight was in summoning verse to exhilarating effect. I’m not sure what Jordan Peele saw in this routine revenge thriller released by his production company, as this film doesn’t strongly evolve its genre.