‘Civil War’ and ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ 4K Ultra HD movie reviews

Here’s a look at a pair of unusual war films now available in the ultra-high definition format.

Civil War (Lionsgate Home Entertainment, rated R, 109 minutes, 1:85:1 aspect ratio, $42.99) Filmmaker Alex Garland explored the unthinkable for American audiences early this year as a catastrophic conflict within their own country played out in the unsettling thriller, now available in the ultra-high definition format.

The not-so-far-fetched narrative chronicles Texas and California as they lead a secessionist movement against the United States and actively battle for control of the entire country against a nearly clueless, authoritarian, third-term president (Nick Offerman) still in control of the military and unwilling to negotiate.

An award-winning photojournalist Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst) has covered the war and now rides with three other fellow journalists, — a hardcore reporter (Wagner Moura), elderly New York Times’ veteran editor (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and aspiring photographer (Cailee Spaeny) — on a mission to document the final moments of the commander in chief before the nation’s capital falls to the insurgents.

Their mission is to travel 857 miles from New York to Washington, D.C., while placing themselves in a dangerous gantlet of battles and situations to capture history, while death and horrors constantly surround them.

The focus of this terrifying travelogue is often mankind’s complete lack of humanity while the filmmaker avoids hardcore politics to tell a cautionary tale of a country hopelessly divided.

Viewers will react with fear to the realism of the events portrayed, culminating with the journalists’ encounter with a White nationalist and his cohorts, an event outcome guaranteed to cause tears and stomachaches as it plays out.

The film often reminded me of the human chaos of Steven Spielberg’s “War of the Worlds” or the Mr. Garland scripted zombie apocalypse movie “28 Days Later” as American turns on American while the situation gets more desperate.

The 4K presentation, both gorgeously crisp and colorful and in full screen, sometimes distracts from the grim subject matter through its visual beauty as it presents battles complete with executions; bloodied bodies; a screen-engulfing burning forest (showered with flaming embers); and a firefight at the Lincoln Memorial.

Best extras: Viewers get a well-done, six-part, almost hourlong documentary, chronological to the movie’s time frame, covering a very somber overview of the production slightly pushing the politics about current America and the heroics of journalism.

The documentary includes plenty of time spent on actors analyzing their characters, and the director discussing the story and relationships.

The segments also focus on building the movie, covering the visual effects such as a suicide bomber explosion or running over a dead body; stunts with the modified main car; the costuming; the fire ember effects; the White House assault; and the set design.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (Lionsgate Home Entertainment, rated R, 109 minutes, 1:85:1 aspect ratio, $42.99) Extreme-action director Guy Ritchie’s box office bombing heist-thriller, very loosely based (like diarrhea) on the British World War II special forces mission dubbed Operation Postmaster, moves to the 4K disc format.

The simple-enough clandestine assignment, concocted by Winston Churchill with the help of a Naval officer, Ian Fleming (yes, the James Bond author) no less, has incarcerated commando and Small Scale Raiding Force founder Gus March-Phillips (Henry Cavill) released to assemble a ragtag team of black-ops agents.

They are assigned to knock out an Italian ship supplying German U-boats hidden near the Spanish-controlled island of Fernando Po as the group travels to their destiny via a fishing boat.

Most of the team characters were actually real heroes and besides March-Phillips included Danish officer Anders Lassen (Alan Ritchson), British Special Air Service officer Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer), British Small Scale Raining Force commando Graham Hayes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) and undercover Special Operations Executives operative Marjorie Stewart (Eiza González) and Richard Heron (Babs Olusanmokun) based on real SOE agent, Richard Lippett.

The fast-paced, action-lathered period piece will often find viewers remarking “those Nazis ships and installations blowed up real good,” reminiscent of Second City Television’s Billy Sol Hurok’s famed film criticisms.

Those indiscreet warriors also offer a series of witticisms and polite chatter as they mow down, throat cut, stab, ax, arrow and gratuitously slaughter the Third Reich’s minions in this poor man’s “Inglourious Basterds.”

Suffice it to report for a pseudo-historical drama, a bloody good and loud time was had by all.

The ultra-high definition presentation offers first a collection of crisp and rich panoramic visuals around the world, including the Canary Islands and Santa Isabel Harbor, and focuses on more intense visuals such as London bombed by the Germans and a wide array of massive explosions and intricate silent kills.

Best extras: Viewers only get a 24-minute overview of the production that explains the story; the stakes involved in the very, very important mission; the need for a controllable harbor; acting at sea; close-quarter combat rehearsals; and the actors having fun and back-patting each other all while supplemented by requisite cast and crew interviews spotlighted by Mr. Ritchie’s comments.