The Empty Perspective of Civil War’s Final Shot

Spoilers follow for the Alex Garland film Civil War, which opened in theaters on April 12. 

A picture’s worth a thousand words, and especially so in the photojournalism-focused Civil War. But it’s tough to say what message a film this politically vague wants to send through its pictures — especially when its final frame is so deliberately provocative, and so frustratingly two-dimensional.

Alex Garland’s attempt at an “anti-war” epic follows a group of journalists traveling to Washington...