Film review: 'Civil War' has no winners

Does director Alex Garland’s provocatively titled film “Civil War,” depicting exactly that in a near-future United States needlessly throw gasoline onto flames in a 2024 America that need no fanning?

A newsreel playing in the background mentions the president (Nick Offerman) is in his third term. The U.S. Constitution limits presidents to two terms. Something is wrong enough that the nation is at war with itself.

There is purposefully no background, no explanation. An improbable California-Texas secessionist alliance is battling the federal government. The audience will ride along as four jour...