Civil War Director Reflects On Specific Criticisms & Explains How It Affected His Iraq War Follow-Up Movie

Civil War director Alex Garland has shared how certain responses to the 2024 film affected his approach to his follow-up movie, Warfare. While his 2024 psychological anti-war film garnered an 81% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics and became A24’s second-highest-grossing film with a global box office draw of $127 million, just behind Everything Everywhere All At Once’s $143 million, Civil War didn’t resonate with general audiences in the way it did with critics, as reflected in its 69% Popcornmeter. Even still, it didn’t keep Garland from returning to the war genre with the newly released Warfare.

Speaking with The Playlist, Garland expressed what kind of effect certain critiques of Civil War had on his approach to this weekend’s Warfare​​​​​​. Reflecting on the mixed response to the seeming ambiguity of the 2024 movie, he spoke of the gatekeeping aspects within the industry, explaining that certain “quarters” expressed doubt in the moviegoers’ ability to “figure this out.” He highlighted the fact that audiences are capable of coming up with their own interpretations of the art he presents. Read his full statement below:

It used to be the case that you had to smuggle things past studios. The studios felt that they were the gatekeepers of what audiences could or could not understand. The sort of gatekeeping aspect of that has migrated away from studios to other quarters. They’re basically saying, “I think people are too dumb to figure this out.” It’s incredibly patronizing. We present something, and believe we’re offering it up to adults. They can figure out what they think.

What This Means For Civil War and Warfare

Ray Mendoza & Garland’s Warfare Is A Solid Response To Civil War, Based On Its Reviews

A quick look at the RT scores of Garland’s films shows that critics enjoy his films more than the general audiences, with his three movies before Warfare having significantly lower scores from the latter. This could be a response to the ambiguous nature of his work, as casual viewers often tend to prefer straightforwardness to ambiguity. Based on the response to Civil War, something that most critics and viewers argued hit close to America’s current political trajectory, Garland’s seemingly apolitical approach felt off. Check out how Garland-directed films compare with critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes in the chart below:

Warfare debuted this weekend to a 94% score from critics and 93% from audiences, with both figures being higher than Civil War‘s and the latter setting a record for Garland as his highest Audience score on the platform. ScreenRant‘s review of Warfare highlighted the film’s tight script and contained story, which gave general audiences the frankness they wanted from Civil War. So far, things point toward Warfare being a respectable response to the critiques of Civil War, with Garland’s co-direction giving the former a visual touch and some thematic depth, so that its most grisly moments don’t feel gratuitous.

Our Take On Alex Garland’s Response To Civil War’s Critiques

The 2024 Movie Was What Garland Wanted It To Be

Garland doesn’t hold his audience’s hand, drenching his films in ambiguity that allows for interpretation, which is my favorite element of the moviegoing experience. His films are meant to linger in discussion, with multiple theories and questions arising after the credits roll. The certain critiques Garland had to address after Civil War are arguably my favorite parts of his work. Warfare is the frank antithesis of Civil War, capturing the violence of war and the intimacy between a brother-like platoon onscreen with seemingly little subtext, but while I enjoyed both, I ultimately don’t think the show of force was necessary.

Source: The Playlist

Warfare

7/10

Release Date

April 11, 2025

Runtime

96 minutes

Producers

Allon Reich, Andrew Macdonald, Matthew Penry-Davey