jesse plemons civil war

Jesse Plemons in “Civil War” – A Detailed Exploration of One Scene

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Sometimes, a single scene from a movie captures your imagination so intensely that you can’t stop thinking about it, even if you don’t want to discuss the entire film. This is what “Just One Scene” is all about.

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“Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds.”

If you missed watching “Oppenheimer” in 2023, you missed an unforgettable experience! I’m not claiming it was perfect or that it deserved the Best Picture award, but it was certainly remarkable. Josh Hartnett returned to the screen, Benny Safdie managed to protect himself from an atomic explosion with the right amount of sunscreen, and there was one of the most unusual sex scenes ever filmed. After this peculiar scene, Cillian Murphy’s character, J. Robert Oppenheimer, delivered the famous translated Sanskrit line: “Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds.”

This quote, while resonating with Oppenheimer, who was responsible for the most devastating weapon in human history, can also be applied to another character in a different context. This character is Jesse Plemons’ uncredited “soldier” in Alex Garland’s film “Civil War.”

You might recognize Jesse Plemons in civil war from his unsettling role as a neighbor/cop in the underrated movie “Game Night” or as a neo-Nazi psychopath in the popular TV series “Breaking Bad.” In “Civil War,” Plemons appears for only seven minutes, but he makes every second count. He portrays a militaristic figure in rural Pennsylvania who encounters the characters played by Cailee Spaeny and Evan Lai after their car gets separated from their friends in another vehicle. These friends are played by Kirsten Dunst, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Wagner Moura, and Nelson Lee. When the second car arrives at a farmhouse, they find the first car abandoned and stumble upon a horrific scene.

Plemons’ character holds their friends hostage, dressed in camouflage, armed with an AK, and commanding them to continue filling a massive grave while he interrogates his new captives. Calling him menacing would be an understatement. He’s more like a demon, devoid of humanity. He doesn’t see people, only threats. It’s unclear which side of the war he’s on, but when Wagner Moura’s character begs for their lives by claiming they’re Americans, Plemons’ soldier asks a chilling question:

This moment is terrifying because you know he has already decided the right and wrong answers in his mind, and the characters don’t know which responses might provoke him to pull the trigger. Being born in another country or stuttering out of fear could be enough to seal their fate.

It’s particularly fascinating to watch Kirsten Dunst, who married Plemons in real life, react to his character’s evil. Interestingly, Dunst suggested her husband for this role after the original actor didn’t work out. Having previously worked together on “Fargo” (where they met) and “The Power of the Dog,” Dunst and Plemons knew how to perform together. But recommending your spouse for such a dark role is something else. Perhaps she knew her husband was perfect for playing this destroyer of worlds, or maybe she just wanted to see him try.

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