Watching Alex Garland’s “Civil War” (2024) is a lot like watching an hour-and-forty-nine-minute train wreck — except it’s even more horrifying because the accident happens right outside your hometown, and its casualties might easily be people you know.

It isn’t an “entertaining” movie; it’s hard to imagine anyone “having a good time” seeing it.  It’s disturbing enough that I wouldn’t even recommend it to many people I know.  I’m probably showing my age when the movie I keep wanting to compare it to is Oliver Stone’s “Platoon” (1986).

But it is definitely a well made film.  In a nutshell, it combines the best elements of two of Garland’s previous movies.  It has the breakneck, street-level, frightening, kinetic action of 2002’s “28 Days Later” and the thoughtful dialogue of 2015’s “Ex Machina.”  (But viewers who are wary of Garland’s sometimes ponderous and lengthy dialogue scenes should rest assured that this is definitely an action movie.)

It’s surprisingly apolitical.  (Garland himself stated it was intentionally “opaque.”)  When we see random factions and individuals committing revolting acts of violence, we’re often given little information about which side they are actually on.  Viewers hoping to see America’s contemporary left/right divide depicted will be disappointed.  (Hence the part of the plot setup that readers laughed at before the movie’s release —  California and Texas join forces against the federal government.)  While Nick Offerman’s cruel and feckless American president is obviously “a bad guy,” his political party is never named.

The cast is roundly excellent, even if everyone is outshined by Kirsten Dunst’s hollow-eyed photojournalist who is in the midst of a traumatized existential crisis.  And if you’re a fan of creepy “that guy” actor Jesse Plemmons, as I am, you’ll see that he is at his finest here.

I know that there have been a spate of negative reviews since the film opened yesterday, accusing it of being “pointless” or without a meaningful story.  I disagree.

This is a milieu-type story in which the catastrophic war itself is the primary antagonist.   It kills both the culpable and the innocent indiscriminately.

And Garland’s message is clear: “Kids, don’t try this at home.”