America Is Broken In The New Trailer For Alex Garland's Civil War

Did you hear the news? No, not about the rapid decline of the American empire and everything it's supposed to stand for. We knew that's been happening for quite some time now. Rather, the big eye-opener here is that indie studio A24 is about to get into the action blockbuster business — with, of all people, one of our boldest and most introspective filmmakers around.

Then again, maybe there's a sense of poetry in Alex Garland and A24 teaming up once more for their most politically charged production yet. The writer behind modern genre classics like "28 Days Later," "Sunshine," "Dredd," "Ex Machina," and "Annihilation" is now setting his sights on the good ol' U.S. of A. with the upcoming "Civil War" and, as the title pretty bluntly suggests, the results are looking mighty explosive. Based on the reaction to the first trailer, there will almost certainly be no shortage of hot takes and discourse-feeding think pieces surrounding a movie about how fully half of the United States is ready to declare war on the other. Good thing this by no means feels like a reflection of the overall social and political atmosphere currently swirling around this country, eh?

Thankfully, for us all, A24 decided to give us a brief form of escapism with another trailer full of national symbols being blown to pieces, rogue governments enacting martial law, and all ironically set to the strains of "America the Beautiful." Again, as we all know, none of this has any basis in reality, no sir. Check out the new footage above!

Look out, Americans, because this ain't your great-great-great-great-great grandfather's Civil War. I suppose almost 250 years is a solid run for a nation that's historically been held together by duct tape, bald eagles, and a couple of pieces of paper, but even the largest Western powers aren't meant to last forever. In "Civil War," the United States seems to have finally run its course for good. The country has been divided along some oddly fascinating battle lines, with California and Texas teaming up against something called the Florida Alliance. We still don't actually get any real insight into what the major disagreement at the heart of this story is all about, mind you, but something tells us this movie is keeping certain plot details close to the chest.

From writer/director Alex Garland, "Civil War" stars an impressively stacked cast led by the great Kirsten Dunst, recent "Priscilla" standout and rapidly rising star Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson (of recent "Dune" and "Beau is Afraid" fame), Sonoya Mizuno (reuniting with Garland after "Ex Machina" and "Annihilation"), Wagner Moura, character actor extraordinaire Jesse Plemons, and, of course, Nick Offerman as the President. Expect "Civil War" to arrive in theaters, presumably accompanied by a rocket's red glare or two, on April 12, 2024, in IMAX.