Film / Civil War (2024)

All Empires Fall

Joel: There is some kind of misunderstanding here.
Soldier: What?
Joel: We're American. Okay?
Soldier: Okay. Well, what kind of American are you?

Civil War is an American epic Speculative Fiction war film written and directed by Alex Garland. It stars Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley-Henderson, Cailee Spaeny, Jesse Plemons and Nick Offerman (as the US President).

Set in the near future, the story sees the USA being engulfed in a new civil war, with nineteen states having seceded from the country. On one side lies the Western Forces, a militia group led by the secessionist states while on the other side are the loyalist states, commandeered by the corrupt president. In the middle of this war, a group of journalists—Lee (Dunst), Joel (Moura), Sammy (Henderson), and Jessie (Spaeny)—go on a dangerous mission to make it to Washington D.C. as the Western Forces gear to attack the capital, navigating through a war-torn America.

The film was released on April 12, 2024.

It has no relation with the Marvel Comics miniseries of the same name, nor the Marvel Cinematic Universe film based on said miniseries.

Previews: Trailer 1. Trailer 2. First Look.

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Civil War provides examples of:

• 20 Minutes into the Future: The film takes place at some point in the future, but precisely when is left unclear. There is no futuristic technology, and even the internet and smartphones are more or less a non-presence. However, see Modern Stasis for more details on this.
• Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: The film features several.
  • After the water riot and subsequent Suicide Attack, there is a rather easygoing scene in the lobby of a New York hotel, where reporters congregate for liquor and company.
  • The night before they follow a skirmish, the four journalists rest and recover in the press car.
  • A night at a refugee camp in a former football stadium sees the four eat, rest, and smoke a few joints.
• Advertised Extra:
  • From the way this trailer is cut, Nick Offerman's President is heavily implied to be the Big Bad. In the film itself, he only has one single short scene that isn't in the trailer - one of the final scenes in the movie, where he has a single line before being killed.
  • Jesse Plemons' only scene also features heavily in most of the trailers and TV spots, giving the impression that he has much more importance than he actually does.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: The President to Joel after being captured by WF forces when he was hiding underneath his Resolute Desk, begging for his life. Not like it didn't help matters due to the fact that Joel witnessed Lee's death in the hands of his Secret Service agents.
• Anti-Hero: The four main journalists are sympathetic and likable, do their best to look out for each other, and are capable of moments of genuine altruism. However, they are ultimately motivated by self-serving reasons and don't do many heroic acts, being portrayed as a mix of neutral, passive or outright enthusiastic observers of a conflict in their own backyard that they're incapable of solving. That being said, they are far better people than either of the military forces fighting the war and never do anything that directly hurts anyone (with the exception of Sammy killing the two white nationalist soldiers with the car, but it's out of clear self-defense and the victims both fully deserved it).
• Ambiguous Situation: The film is more concerned with following the journalists and their immediate surroundings than in the bigger picture. How did the war start? What is it being fought over? Is the climactic battle in Washington, D.C. the end of the war, or is it just getting started? All of these questions are left unanswered.
• Ambiguous Syntax: The Cryptic Background Reference of the "Antifa Massacre" could easily describe both a massacre by members of Antifa or a massacre of members of Antifa. Which one it is is never specified.
• Apocalypse How: Class 0, the United States is immensely divided, but its infrastructure is still intact and weapons of mass destruction don't appear to have been used in the conflict (though again, there's a lot that isn't made clear). The far-reaching global effects of the civil war aren't touched on beyond the drastic devaluation of the United States dollar, so we can only guess the state of the rest of the world.
• Armor-Piercing Question: "What kind of American are you?"
• Ascended Fangirl: Jessie idolizes Lee, and after some initial reluctance the veteran journalist takes the newbie under her wing.
• Asshole Victim:
  • While the situation is left ambiguous, considering the hints of the war crimes he committed against countless Americans, then tried to ask someone to spare him, it is understandable that the President certainly had it all coming.
  • The gunman that kills Tony and Bohai gets run over by Sammy along with one of his men.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Jessie is the youngest and least experienced member of the group, so she does get treated like the others as if she were a Tagalong Kid (in reality, she's twenty-three). They get into several disagreements over how best to treat her and become notably protective of her, with Lee and Joel risking their lives to rescue her and Bohai after they get kidnapped even though there's a high chance they might get killed. It's a sign of Jessie's Character Development that Lee and Joel begin to treat her like another one of the normal journalists during the Washington D.C. battle and essentially leave her to run around with reckless abandon, though in fairness they are dealing with their own personal struggles and have far worse things to worry about.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • At one point on the road, the protagonists notice that their car is being followed by another car that's fast approaching them, and they brace themselves for the worst... It turns out that the other car is driven by Bohai and Tony, Joel's friends, and they just want to troll him around a bit. Everyone has a good laugh and Jessie and Tony proceed to swap to each other's car before Bohai speeds off with Jessie in his truck...and get themselves captured by the sociopathic soldiers led by Jesse Plemons' character. Things quickly go downhill from that point on.
  • When the presidential limousine attempts to escape the White House, most WF soldiers naturally assume it is the President inside and focus all their attention and firepower on stopping it. However, even before they open the vehicle, Lee correctly guesses it is a decoy and leads Joel and Jessie into the abandoned White House grounds, where the President remains inside. A small group of 5 soldiers notice this and follow them, leaving the rest to deal with the occupants of the limo (implied to the the First Lady and her Secret Service bodyguards).
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Jessie wants to become a photojournalist and idolizes Lee, who can see through her confidence as being naive. Among their first stops involve seeing two guys hanging from their wrists, bloody, beaten up but still alive with a local guy said they caught them looting. A Jump Cut indicates the guy shot them both in front of Jessie, who had an emotional breakdown in the back seat of the car.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: When the Western Forces invade the White House, several staffers are seen dead in their offices with self inflicted gunshots to the head and pistols near their corpses. However, given the fact that the Western Forces have strict kill, not capture, orders and are seen committing various war crimes themselves, it is possible doing this was the more preferable option.
• Black Dude Dies First: Of the named characters (plenty of others die), the Hong Kong journalists Tony and Bonhai are the first people to die. Then Black guy Sammy takes a bullet and dies. Finally, Lee (a white woman) dies.
• Blood Knight:
  • Joel is a war journalist rather than a soldier himself, but he's still an intense adrenaline junkie who only feels alive with a battle around him.
  • Tony, the Hong Kong journalist who climbs into their (very fast-moving) car through the window of his own is also clearly an adrenaline junkie.
  • Dave, Anya's cameraman, seems very enthused by the prospect of a possible bloodbath happening in the White House between the Western Forces and the president's Secret Service agents.
• Bloodless Carnage: Averted for the most part but played straight when Lee is gunned down by the Secret Service at the end. We don't see any blood or bullet wounds on her body from both front and back despite getting shot in the back.
• Bodyguard Betrayal: Inverted. Some of the last holdouts, even after the majority of the government and federal Loyalist apparatus have surrendered to the Western Forces, are a group of Secret Service agents who engage in a Last Stand to try and evacuate who appears to be the First Lady, and protect the President in the White House and negotiate his surrender.
• Book Ends: Lee's first on-camera scene is of her getting her and Jessie behind a barricade before a suicide bombing. Her final action is of her saving Jessie's life, taking a bullet for her.
• Break the Cutie: Jessie starts the movie as a perky idealist (or as much of a perky idealist as an aspiring war journalist can possibly be) before trauma after trauma hardens her into a jaded reporter who would do anything for her shot.
• Camera Fiend: Lee and Jessie are photojournalists trying to get pictures as close to the action as possible, even when they are getting shot at or getting in soldiers' way. They even take pictures of dead bodies and their fallen coworkers.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: A sniper and a spotter exchange this with Joel while they are trying to take out an enemy sniper which shot the journalists' vehicle at an abandoned Christmas themed fair.
• Car Fu: Sammy has a Big Damn Heroes moment when he saves Lee, Joel, and Jessie at the last minute by ramming the soldiers who were about to kill them with the car, causing both of them to get killed.
• The Cavalry: The Western Forces are shown to have the strongest military might out the secessionist movements. This is driven home during the scenes at their Charlottesville forward operating base, with fighter jets flying overhead and large numbers of armoured vehicles, helicopters and soldiers gearing up for the final push to Washington, D.C. This makes sense in universe, given that they are backed mainly by Texas and California, each of whom are home to large numbers of military bases.
• Cell Phones Are Useless: While Jessie does have a phone she uses to process photos, it's unable to get a signal anywhere, making it pretty much unable to do anything. The Internet does exist, but it barely works even in a big city like New York, and is presumably down completely in the rural backroads and small towns that the group frequents.
• Central Theme: The main characters are journalists but Lee and Jessie specifically are photojournalists, and their goal is to capture a moment and let others decide what it means. The movie never clarifies how they got into this mess or any of the striking images of death and destruction. Most combatants they come across are not clarified as being Loyalists, Western Forces or some other faction, and even if they were they seem to behave about the same.
• Characterization by Item: Jessie uses a Nikon FE2, a classic SLR film camera, characterizing her as an enthusiast who idolizes the Good Old Ways of the craft and heroes like Lee. Lee, a seasoned photojournalist, uses the Sony Alpha 7R, a modern mirrorless camera intended for experienced photographers.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: Lee generally walks around with an indication of being dead inside. She tries to get some sleep early in the film and we see fragmented images of the other atrocities she has had to cover. She still enjoys a certain immunity as a journalist and is pretty cool when in an active combat zone, but this facade cracks late in the film.
• Cool Car: The presidential limousine, nicknamed "The Beast". During the fighting in Washington, D.C. it gets rammed by a Humvee and shot numerous times at close range with a 50 calibre machine gun, but the armor still holds up. The occupants (implied to be the First Lady and the remnants of her security detail) are only killed when they open the doors to try and surrender, and are gunned down by WF troops.
• Cool Old Guy: Sammy is an aging journalist who doesn't let his older age impede him one bit, eventually sacrificing his life to save the rest of the group from a soldier who was about to kill them.
• Cozy Catastrophe: The idyllic Stepford Suburbia town that pretends the war isn't going on tries to invoke this. The scenes set in the New York hotel lobby and the refugee camp are slightly straighter examples.
• Cryptic Background Reference: The exact things that caused the ongoing conflict are left vague, talked about only briefly with terms other characters understand without further elaboration. The closest it gets is characters spitballing a handful of "hardball questions" on why the current President dismantled the FBI, uses airstrikes against American citizens and taking a third term in office, and an offhand mention of "Parkland Maoists" being a faction in the war. Jessie also mentions that Lee earned notoriety for covering the "Antifa Massacre" but doesn't specify if it was done BY or done TO Antifa.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Lee starts the film rather standoffish and dismissive of Jessie, who idolizes her. Eventually, however, she warms up to her, taking her under her wing, giving her advice, and eventually sacrificing her life to save her.
• Dirty Coward: The President is as cowardly as he is corrupt. When he's cornered by the WF, he hides behind his troops and Secret Service agents (to the point of even sending several agents and even the First Lady out as decoys). He's last seen pathetically begging for his life, which earns him no sympathy from the rebels who immediately execute him.
• Divided States of America: Obviously. The first trailer mentions that nineteen states, including Washington, Montana, Georgia, Louisiana, and Minnesota, have seceded from the union.
  • According to an official map shared on social media◊, Texas and California are highlighted as the Western Forces. Otherwise, the states are divided accordingly:
    • The Florida Alliance: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee,
    • Loyalist States: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, Washington DC, West Virginia & Wisconsin
    • New People's Army: Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington & Wyoming
• Dissonant Serenity:
  • The journalists (at least, the ones who aren't just adrenaline junkies) have become so desensitized to violence that they react to most of the horrors they come across with indifference, though it's clear that it's a coping mechanism they use to allow them to do their jobs.
  • Anya, while very composed about it, casually reports on the Washington D.C. battle despite being right on the front lines and barely seems fazed by the fighting
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: The entire film is a reflection of America's increasingly bitter, polarized, and heavily armed political environment, taken to its worst-case scenario.
  • Sammy comments that the Western Forces and Florida Alliance rushing to beat each other to Washington, D.C. is like the race to Berlin in World War 2, and that once both secessionist armies get there they will just start fighting each other.
  • While leaving New York for Washington DC, they pass by a highway full of destroyed and burnt out civilian vehicles in which they drive around them, eerily mirroring the Highway 80 in Iraq, or better known as the Highway of Death.
  • The President's hostility towards journalists is reminiscent of Donald Trump's well-documented animosity with the press, whom he has referred to as the "enemy of the people". Similarly, he's noted to have disbanded the FBI; Trump's legal issues both in and out of office have led him to repeatedly clash with federal law enforcement (and the non-partisan civil service as a whole), as well as repeatedly threaten to cut funding to various state and Federal agencies solely for annoying him.
  • When driving through Pennsylvania, the protagonists see several corpses hanged from a highway overpass, more commonly associated with the violent warning messages left by Mexican drug cartels.
  • Several militia members who fight Loyalist soldiers are seen wearing Hawaiian shirts with their tactical gear, a look made popular within the Boogaloo movement.
  • The unnamed militia soldier who kills Tony and Bohai is a smirking, detached white nationalist with odd taste in eyewear, recalling the post-ironic alt-right movement; furthermore, he loves making stupid jokes to psychologically torture the assembled journalists for his own amusement.
  • The President is dragged screaming from under the Oval Office desk and executed by rebel soldiers after begging for his life, which is pretty close to what actually happened to Muammar Gaddafi. In addition, Jessie taking a picture of WF soldiers gleefully posing over the President's corpse is reminiscent of the famous picture of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar's killers doing the same.
  • The President's wanton use of air/drone strikes on civilians directly mirrors leftist and progressive anti-Obama rhetoric, due to his expansion of military drone usage and high-profile incidents of US Military personnel drone striking MENA civilians simply for being at funerals.
  • During the first action sequence, Right Wing Militia Fanatics deliberately shoot and kill an injured, bloodied loyalist lying on the ground, who had no weapon and was clearly in no state to fight; this evokes a US Marine being caught shooting an injured fighter on camera during the Battle of Fallujah.
  • The President's Blatant Lies about the secessionist forces suffering massive casualties and being nowhere near Washington D.C. not only evokes George W. Bush's infamous "Mission Accomplished" slogan after the capture and execution of Saddam Hussein that supposedly would end The War on Terror, it also refers to Saddam's Baathist cronies claiming the Americans were defeated and nowhere near Baghdad when US tanks were entering the city.
  • A fascist faction screwing up so bad that it caused the two politically-opposed states of mostly-progressive California and mostly-neoconservative Texas^note which, as of 2024, have had several prominent fights, ranging from Texas Governor Greg Abbott sending illegal immigrants to California Governor Gavin Newsom over their opposing immigration policies to newspaper ads taunting the other over gun control in California and abortion rights in Texas; in addition, there is a lot of tension from comparatively wealthy Californians leaving California to work in Texas due to various companies (especially tech) moving to Texas from California and/or a lower cost of living, which subsequently causes landlords to hike prices through the roof to profit off of the new transplants, as well as both states being accused of being hostile to the opposing US political party with conservatives complaining they are completely ignored for liberal enclaves like San Francisco while Texas actively gerrymandered liberal Austin and Houston into deep red voting blocs recalls the tenuous alliance between the Capitalist US/UK and communist Russia to fight against the German Nazis in World War II, down to the race to assault DC being portrayed like the Allies and Soviet Russia trying to beat the other side to Berlin.
  • Sammy is certain that racist militia that the protagonists encounter dumping a bunch of corpses into a mass grave are cleaning up the evidence of them destroying an entire town, with the implication it was done out of white supremacy; the SS were infamous for this, especially the Dirlewanger Brigade.
• Double Meaning: When a Secret Service agent attempts to negotiate the President's surrender with the Western Forces after they breach the White House:

  Special Agent Joy Butler: "Can the President be entrusted into your safe care?"

  WF Sergeant: "Yes ma'am, we'll take real good care of him, just bring him out here. "

• Downer Ending: Sammy and Lee are killed during their trek from New York to Washington DC, with the former being mortally wounded by a nationalist extremist and the latter being killed by Secret Service agents (right in front of Jessie no less) during the shootout in the White House. Western Forces have successfully invaded Washington D.C, murdered a woman implied to be the First Lady, an unarmed Secret Service agent negotiating surrender, and finally the President himself, with Joel getting only a brief quote from the President (rather than a full interview) before he is summarily executed, all while a hardened Jessie takes a photo. Furthermore, it is left ambiguous on what happens to the overall state of the civil war as a whole, and whether or not the death of the President means that the war finally ends if at all. But given the state of things shown throughout America, and how all factions involved in the war have little to no redeeming qualities, it is highly likely that the United States will be destined to become a failed state; one journalist is certain that all the secessionists will turn on each other once the President is dead.
• Dress-Coded for Your Convenience:
  • During the raid on the White House, loyalist Secret Service agents protecting the President all wear dark suits and body armor in contrast to the soldiers camouflage uniforms.
  • Averted with the Western Forces and federal Loyalist soldiers. Troops on both sides wear borderline identical multicam gear, with the only main difference being the WF flag patches have 2 stars instead of 50. This leads to multiple encounters where the main characters don't actually know if the soldiers they are talking with are Loyalists or WF.
• The Dulcinea Effect: A rare gender-flipped version. Everyone, but especially Lee, makes a significant effort to save Jessie multiple times over the course of the story after only knowing her for a couple of days. Joel and Lee help her after she's kidnapped; Sammy initially refuses but comes back to save them all, getting killed in the process; and, finally, Lee takes the bullet for her after Jessie disregards her orders in the White House.
• Elevator Failure: Referenced by the hotel staff at the NYC hotel. When Lee is about to go up an elevator to her room on the 10th floor, they advise her not to, since power failures are frequent enough that she could get stuck.
• Enemy Mine: Many states that have been traditionally perceived as rivals due to being red and blue have joined forces in this universe's conflict, most prominently the Western Forces' apparent founding states Texas and California. The team-up between these two states have been remained ambiguous however aside from a handful of Cryptic Background Reference that may be used as a rationale for Texas and California to team up.
• Establishing Character Moment: During the protest Lee photographs at the start, she is very emotionless and professional as she gets right up between the police and the protesters. But when she sees Jessie get hit over the head while trying to take photos, Lee stops what she's doing to get Jessie to a safe distance where she gives her a high vis vest before pulling her into cover as a suicide bomber blows up the protest. Then after the the explosion clears, she gets back up and goes back in to take photos of the charred corpses. This all establishes that she is level headed and professional to an outright cold extent, but she does have kindness in her.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The President is simply referred to as the President, with no name given.
• Everyone Has Standards: According to Word of God, this is the explanation for the Enemy Mine between traditionally conservative and progressive states. They may have their differences, but an actual fascist in the White House who orders air strikes against American citizens leads them to make common cause.
• Everyone's Baby Sister: Suffice to say, Jessie becomes this for the rest of the group; one of the first things Lee is shown doing is checking up on her when she gets hurt during a riot and rescues her from a suicide bombing moments later. Within days of meeting her, the other three all become very protective of her and risk their lives multiple times to save her, with Lee committing a Heroic Sacrifice to save Jessie from getting killed by a Secret Service agent.
• Evil Versus Evil: The President has scrapped the Constitution, ordered air strikes on American citizens, has journalists shot on sight, forcibly disbanded several Federal agencies, and likely used Secret Service and either the First Lady or a White House correspondent as bait. The rebel factions consist of, at worst, white supremacists murdering entire towns and targeting minorities, and at best, executes (with a level of glee) wounded and surrendered enemy soldiers and shoots unarmed civilians, including the Secret Service agent who was trying to negotiate the President's surrender, and summarily executes the President.
• Experienced Protagonist: Lee, Joel, and Sammy all have years of experience in journalism, know exactly what they're doing, and display Genre Savvy instincts numerous times. They're rounded out by Jessie, a young Naïve Newcomer who's woefully unprepared for navigating through a war zone.
• Expy Coexistence: As Jessie notes, Lee shares the same name as another famous wartime photojournalist, Lee Miller.
• Famed In-Story: Lee is a renowned photojournalist who started gaining notoriety in college while Sammy is respected enough in the journalism community that several journalists at the Western Forces encampment give Lee and Joel their condolences over his death.
• Fast-Roping: Dave, a fellow journalist, proudly tells Joel during the Washington D.C. Invasion that earlier in the day he got footage of Western Forces soldiers "rapelling out of a chopper onto the roof of the fucking Pentagon".
• Fauxshadowing: Lee constantly tells Sammy that he's The Load because he won't be able to keep up with them, heavily implying that there will come a time when he'll get physically tested or they'll have to choose whether to leave him behind. Neither happens. In fact, the opposite: Sammy is safe from danger when he chooses to come back and save the others, which results in him being killed. He even manages to drive their truck with a gunshot wound.
• Fictional Flag: The Western Forces use a flag that resembles the real world US flag, except it only has two stars◊.
• Foreign Correspondent:
  • Tony and Bohai, Joel's friends who are from Hong Kong and covering the events of the Second Civil War alongside American reporters. This unfortunately gets them killed by a white supremacist.
  • Anya, the journalist they run into outside the White House, is English and is heavily implied to be a foreign correspondent for a British TV channel.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Early on in their trip, Jessie asks Lee if she would take a picture of her if Jessie were to get shot. Lee simply replies, "What do you think?" In the climax, after Lee saves Jessie from being shot by Secret Service agents and taking the bullet herself, Jessie captures a picture of Lee getting shot.
  • When discussing what the President will be like if he gets to interview him, Sammy tells Joel all tyrants like him are lesser men than you would expect when you meet them in person. When Joel finally meets the President after he is captured by the WF, he is dishevelled, unshaven, hyperventilating and terrified, begging for his life on the floor of the Oval Office.
• Genre Savvy: Lee, Joel, and especially Sammy, are highly experienced, and their instincts are shown to be right on a number of occasions.
  • In part of her Establishing Character Moment, Lee instantly realises that the guy charging into the melee carrying an American flag is a suicide bomber, and gets herself and Jessie behind cover immediately.
  • Sammy observes an obviously dangerous, but not clear how dangerous, situation, and says all his instincts are screaming that this situation is death. Unfortunately, he's right.
• Gentle Touch vs. Firm Hand: Lee tries to teach Jessie through Tough Love by telling her the hard truths of being a journalist and making her confront the horrors of war head-on, while Sammy tries to guide her more gently and tries to get Lee to back off. Joel is somewhere in the middle, gently chiding Lee for being too harsh and acting as something of an older brother figure to Jessie, but ultimately leaves her to her own devices for the most part.
• Going for the Big Scoop: The journalists racing to interview the president before the rebels reach Washington, knowing that they will be traveling through active war zones and that loyalist forces shoot journalists on sight.
• Gunship Rescue: During the invasion of Washington, D.C., a team of WF soldiers are pinned down as they advance towards Pennsylvania Avenue by Loyalist soldiers with machine guns who have a height advantage. Cue the entry of a WF Apache helicopter, which flies low between buildings and makes quick work of the Loyalist vantage points with its 30mm chain gun and missiles, allowing the troops to press on to the White House.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Oddly averted then played straight. During a small skirmish the main characters cover early in the film, they wear helmets as well as bullet proof vests. But during the finale, in the middle of an absolute warzone in DC, they choose to go without helmets.
• Heroic BSoD: Nearly getting killed by a white nationalist who already killed two of his colleagues and Sammy's subsequent Heroic Sacrifice take its toll hard on Joel, who becomes more withdrawn after everything he witnesses. After Lee gets killed by Secret Service agents, he coldly lets the WF soldiers execute the president out of anger over his friend's death.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • Sammy drives in to save the other three journalists from the unnamed soldier about to kill them, and they manage to escape - but he gets a bullet for his trouble and dies.
  • At the climax of the film, Lee sacrifices her life to save Jessie's during the invasion of the White House.
• Hide Your Children: Although the group journeys across multiple states, they see hardly any children outside of a few in the scenes in New York City and the refugee camp in West Virginia (not including children that appear in flashbacks of Lee photographing other warzones).
• Highly-Conspicuous Uniform:
  • A group of gunmen (credited only as "commercial soldiers") the group observe fighting Loyalist troops are seen wearing colorful Hawaiian shirts with their camo and grey body armor.
  • Downplayed: If you look closely during the Sniper Duel, the sniper the journalists wind up with has dyed hair and painted fingernails, which would be a huge no in any military.
• Humans Are Bastards: Much like any movie that shows humanity would be happy to destroy itself for whatever reason, only here it's worse when a single country of humans is happy to destroy itself for whatever reason. All of the factions, especially the WF, have absolutely no qualms killing anybody who don't think or act like they do, which goes to show how far America has fallen, and that even goes for the civilians:
  • Jesse's first brush with the cruelty of war are gas station owners gleefully torturing two looters (who may not even have been looters); one of the owners chortles that they have been hanging them for days, nonchalantly states he personally knew one of the looters, and ignores the fact said looter was doing it to feed his kids. The owner then asks Jessie, who is visibly frightened and a rookie reporter, to decide if they should shoot the men now or leaving them hanging and maybe free them if they're lucky enough to not die of their injuries.
• Hypocrite: The film posits that anyone who claims they're "staying out of the war" are simply either putting their heads in the sand or lying about their involvement in it; both Lee and Jessie's parents act like nothing in America is out of the ordinary, despite their daughters risking their lives on the frontline, and a small town that the protagonists pass through claim to "stay out of politics", but as Lee and Sammy observe militia watching them closely, it's left unsaid that even enforced neutrality isn't "staying out of politics".
• Ignorance Is Bliss: The small town in West Virginia that Lee and her group pass through, who are just "trying to stay out" of being involved in the ongoing conflict. Lee and Jessie also mention that their parents (who live in Colorado and Missouri, respectively) are also "pretending like none of this is happening".
• Intergenerational Friendship: The four journalists at the film's center are a multigenerational bunch—Sammy being the oldest of them by several decades, Lee and Joel being around the same age and presumably around their forties, while Jessie is twenty-three. Lee and Joel are already close friends and colleagues, with Sammy being their old mentor, and the three of them include Jessie into the group very quickly.
• Improbable Infant Survival: A variant. While presumably children are dying in the conflict, hardly any children are shown throughout the group's travels. Jessie, at 23, is one of the youngest people encountered, and she survives despite getting in multiple certain-death situations. Both Lee and Sammy, who are older than her, sacrifice themselves for her.
• Intrepid Reporter: Deconstructed. It doesn't get more intrepid than risking life and limb to document the horrors of war, but the four journalists at the film's center are shown to be hardened, broken people who struggle with unimaginable trauma - all for news outlets that may or may not even function anymore. (Sammy is said to work for "what remains of the New York Times".)
• Irony: The first trailer ends with a voiceover from the president reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, particularly the "one nation, under God, indivisible" part, when America is shown extensively to be anything but.
• Judge, Jury, and Executioner: It seems the capacity of local law enforcement is either stretched incredibly thin, or is non-existent due to the ongoing conflict, especially in rural areas. This leads to people taking the law into their own hands. The best example is Eddie and Pete, the gas station owners who act like a Vigilante Militia and savagely beat up two men and hang them up by their wrists for two days outside without food or water, before executing them. All because they got caught trying to loot their local store.
• Karmic Death: The sociopathic soldier played by Jesse Plemons, who likes killing foreigners, gets plowed by a truck and falls into the very same hole he dumped all bodies of his victims.
• Lame Last Words: The President himself, when asked for a quote comes out with a stuttering "don't let them kill me" to which Joel says "that'll do" and lets the soldiers kill him.
• Lampshade Hanging: During a pep talk with newcomer Jesse, Joel promises her they'll finally see some action tomorrow. What follows is the first real action sequence of the movie after fleshing out the journalists for about half an hour.
• Last Stand: At the end of the film the majority of the federal Loyalist soldiers and command have surrendered, leaving only a small holdout of devoted troops and Secret Service agents. They hole up in the fortified White House to try and protect the defiant President from the advancing Western Forces.
• Late to the Tragedy: The journalists en route from New York to Washington DC pass by several former battlegrounds, such as a freeway leading out of New York being littered with civilian vehicles (which eerily resembles to the Highway of Death in Iraq) and smouldering buildings with remnants of military vehicles being strewn about.
• Leave No Survivors: The chosen rules of engagement for the Western Forces once they gain access to the White House. Another journalist, Dave, mentions the WF have specific orders to kill, not capture. This applies to the President and all other occupants, armed or otherwise.
• Leeroy Jenkins: In a mix of inexperience and youthful stupidity, Jessie becomes extremely reckless while she and the journalists are being escorted by a WF convoy during the Washington D.C. Invasion. She tries to get closer to the battlefield, refuses to seek cover unlike the rest of the group, and has to be physically held back by soldiers several times. Her recklessness leads to her nearly getting killed and for Lee to die taking a bullet meant for her.
• The Load:
  • Lee accuses Sammy that it's inevitable he'll become this, noting his poor mobility and age. He doesn't. In fact, he saves Lee, Jessie, and Joel's lives and dies in the process.
  • Jessie gets the group into trouble by switching cars, getting kidnapped by whatever forces, almost dying, and then getting in the way at the White House, disregarding Lee's instructions, and causing Lee to commit a Heroic Sacrifice for her.
• Magical Negro: Sammy has shades of this, being the only Black main character, and imparting wisdom upon the other photojournalists.
• Man on Fire:
  • In a flashback to one of Lee's assignments in an African country, she witnesses (and photographs) a man being burned alive whilst trapped in a car tyre, commonly referred to as necklacing.
  • A Western Forces soldier also gets set on fire when his Humvee is blown up by federal Loyalist forces defending the White House. Jessie takes several pictures of him as he flails in agony.
• Mauve Shirt: During the assault on DC, Lee, Jessie, and Joel spend the duration of the assault in the company of a single military squad, particularly once they enter the White House. We don't exactly get to know them but they at least make themselves more distinct than the other soldiers in the assault. Indeed, the final photo that the credits play over is of the squad standing over the dead president and posing for the camera.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Sammy is Lee's mentor, and Lee herself becomes Jessie's mentor. Both end up killed.
• Modern Stasis: It's ambiguous exactly how distant this future is, but forty-one-year-old Kirsten Dunst plays Lee, who is mentioned as having taken pictures of the Antifa Massacre in college. Assuming that Lee is around Dunst's age, that was around twenty years ago or more. It likely couldn't have taken place earlier than 2016, since that was when "Antifa" became a particular buzzword for left-wing causes. Combined with the fact that the president's in his third term, that would place the story in around 2036, but there's no new slang, technology, or even clothing showcased in the movie. Another possibility is that the film takes place close to the present in an alternate timeline.
• Monumental Damage: Inevitable with a film involving an armed conflict on American soil whose climax takes place in DC. When fighting federal Loyalist soldiers, Western Forces troops destroy part of the Lincoln Memorial with a javelin missile.
  • Averted somewhat with the White House, which despite being the main focus of the Western Forces attack (as well as mortar fire) appears remarkably unscathed, at least from the exterior shots that are shown.
• Most Writers Are Writers: A film about journalists, where according to Garland, are explicitly the heroes capturing the horrors and events of the civil war to inform the public.
• Naïve Newcomer: Jessie begins the film as a fairly cheerful idealist who idolizes Lee and is wholly unprepared for the reality of war. By the end of the movie, she has become so hardened that she practically finds herself enjoying the warzone in DC, and when Lee pushes her out of the way of gunfire, getting fatally shot herself, Jessie has the presence of mind to take photos of Lee's final moments of life before she falls over.
• Never Trust a Trailer: Marketing ahead of the film's release heavily emphasized the specific scenario, identifying the loyalist and rebellious states, showing battles and troops in various cities around the country, and stirring up speculation as to the cause and course of the war. It also heavily featured the President. However, in the movie itself, the worldbuilding is mostly left up to Cryptic Background References and the President only appears at the very beginning and very end — far more important are the characters and their road trip from New York to Washington, D.C.
• Nice Mean And In Between: The three other photojournalists with their attitude towards Jessie. The warm and jocular Sammy is nice. The bitter and cold Lee is mean (though she becomes a Defrosting Ice Queen), and Joel is in-between (more welcoming to Jessie, but more downbeat and pessimistic than Sammy).
• Non-Action Guy: Sammy, due to his advancing age and relatively limited mobility, doesn't get involved in much of the action and stays in the car during most of the group's adventures, largely serving as a mentor figure to the other three journalists. The one time he does get involved by using Car Fu to save his friends from getting killed, it ends up costing his life.
• Noodle Incident: What started the war in the first place is never examined, which makes the whole thing even worse.
• No Party Given: The exact political situation that caused the war to happen is not explained, only that there is the main Loyalist government in DC and the opposing faction that is most prominent in the film is called the Western Forces. Any given group the main characters come across are not specified as to which side they are fighting for, excepting the very end as they accompany the Western Forces on their invasion of DC. The Western Forces are said to be primarily backed by California and Texas, who are traditionally the most diametrically opposed to each other politically. The current President is said to have disbanded the FBI, used drone and aircraft strikes against US citizens and on a third term, none being party specific hot points (though may be inspired by claims of specific individuals).
• Not So Above It All: Lee might be a hardened, embittered photographer who has an attitude of stoic indifference to most things, but even she's not above childishly bickering with Joel during any given conversation they share.
• Not So Stoic:
  • Jessie is the New Meat to the seasoned journalists she's linked up with, after one rough (but comparatively safe) incident she's having a nervous breakdown while the others just shrug it off. When they come across a group preparing a mass grave and Jessie is in danger, they respond with grim stoicism and try to talk their way out of it. But when the two Asian journalist friends they joined up with are shot in front of them their nerves start failing and begin pleading for their lives.
  • Joel displays genuine horror for the first time in the movie during the encounter with the white nationalist soldier upon realization that he's in a situation he can't talk his way out of. The experience shakes him so much that he and Jessie can only wordlessly scream in terror once they're in the safety of the car.
• Only Sane Man: Sammy tries to dissuade Lee and Joel from going to D.C. due to the president's loyalist forces having a policy of shooting journalists on sight and, while he does accompany them, asks to be dropped off at Charlottesville instead of going along with his proteges' borderline Suicide Mission. When Jessie and Bohai get captured by some white nationalists, he warns his companions that trying to save them will get everyone killed and he refuses to walk out with them to confront the armed men. Sammy is only done in by his conscience, since he is mortally wounded when he performs Car Fu to save them at the last second.
• Pet the Dog:
  • The Western Forces soldiers at least are compassionate enough to tell the photojournalists to stay close with them in order to prevent being shot and even telling them to get back from being in the line of fire. They even managed to hold back from executing the President just so Joel can get a quote from the former, to which in return they even get a photo of themselves standing over the President's body post-execution (implied to be taken by Jessie). Earlier, they get Sammy's body into a coffin after his death at the hands of a white nationalist militia.
  • It's more of a coincidence, but the sniper and spotter team of unknown allegiance that the protagonists come across let them take cover from the sniper who set up a death trap and is shooting everyone on sight, and are, for two soldiers who are under heavy fire and have been locked in a Sniper Duel for days, very patient with Joel asking them dumb questions while they're fighting for their lives. They're also nice enough to let them know when they've killed the enemy sniper.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: A Sociopathic Soldier murders Tony and Bohai because they are foreign, and tries to also kill Joel (who is Hispanic and from Florida) as he thinks the latter is not a "real American."
• President Evil: Strongly implied. Nick Offerman's President is now on his third term, and is perfectly willing to send the military to bomb his own citizens; he also forcibly disbanded the FBI. Sammy even compares him directly to Nicolae Ceaușescu, Muammar Gaddafi, and Benito Mussolini.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Hot-Blooded, extroverted, and relatively easygoing adrenaline junkie Joel is the Red to the more icy, stoic, and trauma-stricken Lee's Blue.
• Ridiculous Exchange Rates: The Second American Civil War was devastating enough that it managed to tank one of the most valuable currencies on the planet. At one point when Lee was negotiating with one of the gas station attendants, she says that she'll offer $300 dollars for gas but they mentioned that $300 is barely enough for a sandwich — ham or cheese. Lee then bluntly says that she's talking about Canadian dollars, leading to them closing the deal.
• Right Hand Versus Left Hand: The protagonists are caught up in a Sniper Duel; by the admission of the sniper team they happen to fall in with, no one is sure if the sniper inside the house is on their side, if they're on anyone's side.
• Right-Wing Militia Fanatic:
  • It's implied the suicide bombing in the intro is carried out by some kind of ultranationalist faction — the bombings are apparently common enough that everyone knows exactly what anyone waving an American flag running full-tilt at a crowd means.
  • The first real action scene follows what are strongly implied to be "Boogaloo boys", who annihilate a Loyalist holdout and execute the survivors.
  • The President's rhetoric dismisses every secessionist state as one, but out of the opposing forces, the Florida Alliance are dismissed as barely-competent militia yahoos.
  • The soldiers who capture Bohai and Jessie and later kill Bohai and Tony are noted not to be government forces, but it's not clear who they are fighting for. They espouse virulent anti-immigrant, white nationalist beliefs while interrogating the protagonists. They might just be a couple of racists who got their hands on some guns and camo.
• Road Trip Plot: Elements of this, combined with Deadly Road Trip. The majority of the film is the protagonists driving from New York City to Charlottesville and then Washington, D.C. and documenting the conflict on the way. Their drive time is extended considerably given that the interstate highways have been "incinerated" by bombings, meaning they have to take the back roads for the bulk of the trip.
• Scenery Dissonance:
  • Jessie photographs a crashed and burned out military helicopter, which wouldn't look out of place in various foreign warzones. However, it is in the parking lot of a JC Penney in a normal suburban commercial shopping district. Bullet ridden Humvees and feral dogs are also seen running around the same area.
  • The grand interior corridors and state rooms of the White House, which are filled with dead staffers who committed suicide rather than be captured than the approaching Western Forces, and are later the setting of a violent indoor shootout between WF soldiers and the Secret Service.
• Second American Civil War: The film is about this very concept, with the US vs several breakaway factions, mainly the Western Forces and Florida Alliance.
• Semper Fi: At the Western Forces forward operating base in Charlottesville, there are a large number of Marines gearing up for battle alongside the army soldiers. One of the soldiers who participates in the raid on the White House is a Marine machine gunner.
• Series Continuity Error: The official map released ahead of the film lists Alaska as a loyalist state, but in the film itself, Alaska is noted as being "neutral territory" — indicating it is either not participating in the war or has outright declared independence.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Although Lee is a war journalist and not a soldier, she is still clearly traumatized by the horrific sights she's seen over the course of her career, and the fact that she's now seeing them in her home country makes it even worse.
• Shoot the Messenger: When the Western Forces take the White House, an unarmed Secret Service agent attempts to negotiate the safe surrender and extraction of the President. She is quickly gunned down by the soldiers, who have orders to kill the President and clearly view her negotiation attempts as no more than a delaying tactic.
• Sociopathic Soldier:
  • The nationalist militiaman played by Jesse Plemons. While he targets the non-white members of the group first, the fact that he commits two open-and-shut cases of murder makes it pretty unlikely he'd have allowed the white witnesses to live, especially given the high probability he was involved in the killings of the truckload of corpses he's disposing of, and very nearly murders the foreign-accented but European-passing witness after confirming he's from "central America". His silent and unnamed partners also likely fit the bill, as they seem fully complicit in everything the talkative one does, with no sign of objection.
  • Earlier, the militia in West Virginia, heavily implied to be "boogaloo boys", shoot and kill a heavily wounded Loyalist who isn't armed and is in no state to fight back.
  • Whoever set up the creepy trap at a farmhouse consisting of a dead and bloodied soldier to bait anyone who sees it into stopping long enough to be shot; it's not known if they are from any military, but they've been shooting everything in sight, to the point they've got a sniper team pinned down.
  • In a cold, dispassionate way, the Western Forces shoot everyone coming out of the White House — staffers who are clearly surrendering, Secret Service Agents trying to protect the staffers, Agents trying to negotiate a surrender, and the President himself.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Jesse Plemons' militiaman is disturbingly cordial and soft-spoken while holding the group at gunpoint and casually executing several of them. He engages them in banal conversation about their families and home states as they beg to be allowed to live.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: The second trailer is set to a slowed-down whistled rendition of "America the Beautiful", set to scenes showing a not-so-beautiful America and quite a bit of violence.
  • In the film itself, a scene where a militia captures Loyalists and summarily execute them is soundtracked by De La Soul's peppy "Say No Go".
  • Later, the protagonists come across a rotting soldier posed next to a theme park's Christmas display as cheerful Christmas music. It's a trap for a sniper.
• Spreading Disaster Map Graphic: A map of the current divisions between states is briefly shown as a graphic during a news broadcast watched by Lee in her hotel room in New York City at the start of the film.
• The Squad: The small team of Western Forces soldiers that breach the White House consists of what appear to be 3 Air Force or special forces operatives, an Army sergeant and a Marine Corps gunner.
• Stepford Suburbia: Along the way to D.C., the journalists stop over by a town in which people seem to act like the civil war isn't happening around them, in which Joel remarks if they went back in time while Jessie comments like they're in The Twilight Zone. A shop owner even nonchalantly states that they 'stay out of it' (i.e. avoid watching the news) before telling Joel to let her know if he and his colleagues need anything. This doesn't stop the town from having some kind of defense however, as Sammy notes to Lee to be subtle in seeing couple of snipers in a building looking at them.
• The Stoic: Lee is a deconstruction. As a seasoned war journalist, she is able to stay calm and get the job done even when her life is actively at risk, but it took a lot of trauma to get her to that point, and outside of war she's practically an Empty Shell. As the film goes on, her stoicism begins to crack.
• Stress Vomit: Jessie has a particularly gnarly one after the encounter with the racist soldiers that Sammy saves the crew from. She's so shaken up by the deaths she's witnessed that she doesn't even try to roll the window down and puke out the car window; she's an absolute mess that she just vomits in her lap on the spot in the back seat of the van, in a way that's less of an explosive clenching of muscles and more a complete slackening of them as the adrenaline wears off.
• Suicide Attack: One of the first major setpieces of the film is a suicide bombing in New York City.
• Suicide Mission: The trip to Washington, D.C. amounts to one. Although death is not necessarily guaranteed, the active war zone and the administration's policy of shooting journalists on sight means that it is extremely dangerous.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Jessie assumes that she could handle herself on the battlefield, thinking that taking photos of the civil war as it rages on will be a walk in a park. But when she encounters two heavily tortured men at a gas station, she is (understandably) shocked and disgusted that she didn't even take a photo of it, much to her chagrin afterwards when she complains that she didn't take a single shot. Lee remarks that she needs to get used to it first. By the end of the film (a few days later), she has become so emotionally battered that she's swung hard the other way, and is essentially addicted to the thrill of danger just like Joel, but without his long experience and recovery times in between, leaving her the most reckless of the journalists by far.
• Symbolism: In a form of symbolic irony, the Lincoln Memorial, a monument to the President who led the U.S. through the first civil war, is destroyed in the second by secessionists.
• Three Successful Generations: Although they're not related, this is the setup of the Power Trio. Jessie is the youth, looking to make her own way; Lee and Joel are the adults, who are trying to rediscover their hope for journalism, and Sammy is the elder - he was Lee's mentor, he looks after Jessie, and he ultimately sacrifices his life for them.
• The Three Faces of Adam: Sammy is the prophet. He's looking back on his life and highly respected by the other characters. The President is the lord; he only appears briefly but is implied to have committed vast Offstage Villainy at the moment that he's being deposed. Joel is the hunter, as a Hot-Blooded war photographer who undergoes a HeroicBSOD after witnessing violence and bloodshed.
• Too Dumb to Live: It's unclear whether it's due to delusions of victory or just sheer hubris, but the President doesn't bother fleeing the White House or Washington, D.C. even as separatist military forces are bearing down on it and the bulk of the defending Loyalist forces have surrendered, and all he achieves is getting himself and his remaining Secret Service agents trapped and then swiftly killed. See also Villain Ball below.
• Tranquil Fury: Joel gives one to the President after witnessing Lee's death to his Secret Service agents when Lee saved Jessie from being shot. Initially, he told the WF soldiers to not do anything against the President in order to get a quote from him, but suddenly forgoes his intent for an actual interview with the President, settles for the single sentence quote and promptly allows the WF soldiers to execute him while Jessie takes a photo of his death.
• Trumplica: Downplayed. The unnamed President has more of a Kennedy-esque appearance in dark hair with some grey streaks, but it's a very distinctive, high volume hair style. His news broadcast indicates some of Trump's tendency to exaggerate statements ("The greatest military strike ever made") and it's said that he has a major, and violent, anti-journalist policy. He's also dissolved Federal and likely State agencies before, as Trump has repeatedly threatened to do so before.
• Undying Loyalty: Before the invasion of Washington, D.C., it is revealed the majority of federal Loyalist troops and their commanding generals have surrendered to the Western Forces. However, there is a small collection of soldiers (and Secret Service agents) who remain to protect the President despite the overwhelming odds, and are described by another embedded journalist as "do-or-die".
• The Unreveal: The agenda of Western Forces and Florida Alliance when it comes to ideology and policy isn't specified. The most we know is that they seceded from the USA for reasons that probably included objecting to the actions of the President, and now one their war goals is to depose him. Furthermore, the New People's Army isn't mentioned in the film other than being present in the official map posted on social media.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Jessie impulsively deciding to switch cars after seeing Tony do the same ends up leading to a series of events that dooms the entire group.
• Villain Ball: Although he would still lose power, the President would probably have been able to survive in exile had he made smarter decisions. Instead of fleeing Washington, D.C. once the majority of his Generals and Loyalist soldiers surrender to the Western Forces, he decides to hole up in the White House with only a handful of die-hard soldiers and Secret Service agents to protect him against overwhelming odds of losing. He doesn't even utilise the underground command bunker or various tunnels leading out of the complex once WF soldiers breach the perimeter. Only when they are inside does he attempt to negotiate surrender and extraction to a "neutral territory", which obviously fails and allows the secessionists to shoot through his remaining bodyguards and execute him in the Oval Office.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Lee and Joel have diametrically opposed personalities and most of their interactions usually end up devolving into petty bickering, but they've known each other for a long time and are clearly good friends. Joel is completely devastated by Lee's death at the hands of Secret Service agents and lets the president get executed by the Western Forces as a result.
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Jessie's Stress Vomit after watching two journalists get executed in front of her is not hidden from the camera in any way.
• War Crime Subverts Heroism: The Western Forces are able to take Washington, D.C. and overthrow the dictatorial fascist President, as well as his government and military forces. They also murder numerous unarmed civilians and surrendering combatants whilst doing so, and execute the President in the Oval Office instead of capturing him to stand trial for his crimes. Soldiers even pose for a photo with his corpse afterwards.
• War Is Hell: The four protagonists pass by several former battlegrounds highlighting the damage and scale of the Second American Civil War, even getting roped up in a couple of skirmishes.
• War Refugees: Displaced people appear throughout the film. The group of journalists pass people walking on foot with suitcases along a damaged highway, and cars overloaded with possessions driving the opposite direction to them fleeing from the violence. They even spend the night at a refugee camp in West Virginia located in a disused sports stadium.
• The War Room: Played with. Inside the White House, several state rooms and the cabinet room are filled with a mess of desks, communications equipment and abandoned food, indicating extensive use for tactical planning in the lead up to the invasion of Washington, D.C. Interestingly, the Presidential Emergency Operations Centre (PEOC), the building's actual war room located under the East Wing in a bunker, is not shown.
• Washington D.C. Invasion: The climax of the film shows the Western Forces invading D.C.
• The White House: When the Western Forces arrive in DC, they find the White House has been heavily fortified, with large concrete walls erected around the entire estate (as well as the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and the Treasury Building). However, with their superior firepower they are able to breach the walls, fight off the remaining loyalist Secret Service agents and ultimately capture and kill the defiant President in the Oval Office.
• With a Friend and a Stranger: Lee is accompanied by her colleague Joel, her old mentor Sammy, and Jessie, a plucky aspiring photojournalist that she meets in New York.
• World Limited to the Plot: While the civil war is raging in America, almost nothing is said about what the state of the rest of the world is in with the world's largest superpower essentially collapsing overnight. Besides a scene showing how Canadians dollars are now worth more than American ones and several foreign journalists covering the war, most prominently a British journalist covering the battle in D.C., absolutely nothing is known about what is happening outside of America's borders.
• Would Not Shoot a Civilian: Inverted considerably. Throughout the film members of the Western Forces, federal Loyalists and smaller militia groups are seen shooting unarmed civilians. In the third act, Western Forces soldiers even gun down what is implied to the the First Lady, as she exits a damaged presidential limousine with her hands up. The WF is, however, pragmatic enough not to harm the unarmed journalists embedded with their forces, taking precaution to keep them out of the line of fire and even going through the effort of having to repeatedly hold Jessie back whenever she gets too close to the fighting during the White House invasion.
• 0% Approval Rating: It's heavily implied that, aside from soldiers and personnel who'll never stand for mutiny against the US and die-hard ultranationalists, no one likes the sitting American president — the protagonists (and likely every other journalist in town) dismiss him as yet another dictator in the vein of Nicolae Ceausescu and Joel and Lee banter about the fact that the President's actions (airstrikes on his own civilians, disbanding various Federal agencies including the FBI, dissolving the constitution, forcing a third term) will make it extremely hard to have a neutral interview. It's also implied that whatever caused the Western Forces to form had a lot of defecting military, with dialogue at the end saying that the last generals still allied with the US/the president only now defected. It's bad enough that it got ''deep blue California and deep red Texas to band together.

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"Every time I survived a war-zone, I thought I was sending a warning home. 'Don't do this.' But here we are."

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