Alex Garland’s “Civil War” is essentially a horror movie, one in which the horrors feel uncomfortably close to home. In this vision of America, the country is divided into two violent factions: one led by a fascist three-term president (Nick Offerman, in a small but vivid role), the other an armed rebellion against the government. Four journalists — photographer Lee (Kirsten Dunst), her reporting partner Joel (Wagner Moura), veteran writer Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and young aspiring photographer Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) — travel across hundreds of miles of this war zone to reach Washington, D.C., in the hopes of getting one last interview with the president.

It’s a strange, terrifying journey, punctuated by bodies and blood and an eerily deafening soundscape. They drive past empty streets, abandoned cars, urban buildings with curls of smoke rising. They bargain, at a remote gas station manned by hostile men toting guns, for fuel (their offer of $300 is scoffed at, until Lee clarifies that it’s $300 Canadian). They witness a firing squad, a bloody riot on a city street, a load of bodies in a dump truck, snipers on the roof of an idyllic-looking small-town street. And they run toward all of it — taking pictures, asking questions, documenting, remembering. If “Civil War” wasn’t so utterly horrifying, it could be a superhero movie, with journalists wearing the capes.

But in its quieter moments — you wish there were more of them — the film becomes the story of an impromptu family: four people united by a common goal. No one is saintly here: Lee, hardened and weary from years of war reporting, bickers with Joel about not wanting to take responsibility for the inexperienced Jessie, and makes it clear that Sammy is a burden; he’s old, she says, and can’t run. But ultimately they take care of each other, in sometimes surprising ways, and the actors let us see that bond. Dunst, whose Lee seems hard-wired to expect danger at every turn, beautifully lets us see the faintest of meltings as she becomes a reluctant mentor to Jessie. And Henderson shows us an aging man full of stories, even those he didn’t want to tell; he’s still seeking one last byline, somehow.

“Civil War” creates the sort of dystopian world in which little flashes of normality seem startling: water bottles, newspaper vending boxes, a dress shop open for business, a quiet hotel room. They’re tiny islands of calm for these characters, racing through a war zone, not knowing how long they can stay alive. Lee, at one point, muses on her career documenting violence around the world. “I thought I was sending a warning home: Don’t do this,” she says. The words hang in the quiet for moment, soon drowned out by gunfire.

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'CIVIL WAR'

3 stars (out of four)

MPA rating: R (for strong violent content, bloody/disturbing images, and language throughout)

Running time: 1:49

How to watch: In theaters

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