In the near future, a civil war has broken out between the American federal government and various secessionist movements. In a skirmish in New York, 23-year-old aspiring photojournalist Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) meets her hero, the battle-hardened and war-weary photographer Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst). Jessie soon weasels her way into joining Lee and her colleague Joel (played Wagner Moura) and their ageing mentor Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) on a journey into the Heart of Darkness (1899): the White House in Washington, D.C.!

Writer-director Alex Garland resurrected the zombie-horror genre with his script for 28 Days Later (2002), which explores man’s inhumanity to man in a dystopian landscape during a post-apocalyptic period. Here, Garland jettisons any socio-political metaphors and allegories that may have enjoyed the relative safety of the horror genre, instead doubling down on his bare-bone concept: the end of a contemporary American civil war.

Avoiding any definitive political stances and causes for the conflict, Garland focuses on the madness of war through the lenses of his journalist characters. Writer Joel seeks a quote from the outgoing President; veteran Lee sees the hard path and its consequences laid out before young Jessie; and elderly mentor Sammy cannot live any other way. While the tag-a-longs may seem a hindrance to Lee and Joel’s mission, perhaps in ensuring their safety, the veterans can save what little soul they themselves have left.

Verdict: A minimalistic contemporary Apocalypse Now (1979) meets The Road (2009), which might be too close for comfort. 4 stars.

Luke McWilliams, themovieclub.net. Viewed at Dendy Cinemas.