[nozzlegear]

> As I recall the battle lines were a bit awkwardly drawn for that one. The realism would increase if Cali and Texas were governed by the same party for some time in real life (as I recall they were allies in that movie).

I actually liked that little detail and don't think it's too farfetched. In real life those two states are currently on opposite sides of the political spectrum, but (iirc) we don't actually know why the civil war started in the movie and it seemed careful to avoid any kind of left vs right ideology. California and Texas both have a rich history of calls for secession from the union, and both have heavyweight economies that could allow them to stand as their own countries. I think if a civil war did break out where both states disagreed with the Federal government, they'd be more likely than you think to form an alliance.

[sillyfluke]

If they had developed that whole backstory of an alliance (how loose is it, how close or apart are they politically despite the military alliance etc) it would have been a different, and in my opinion, much more interesting movie. It just felt it was leaning too much on the visceral war aspect of it, and that didn't contain enough originality to carry my interest frankly. Others have mentioned the style, I just found the style uninspired "Vietnam War nostalgia" including aping the glorification of photojournalists and the overemphasis on non-social media "respectable journalism" from older reputable Vietnam movies.

[righthand]

The war in the movie starts because authoritarian elected Potus Nick Offerman creates an economic division between the states which causes the states to group up geographically and ally on their divisions. California and Texas today wouldn’t pair but given enough pressure they might to ensure they remain an economic power house.

[nerdponx]

I could imagine them seceding independently, but allying once seceded, especially if the CA secession government shifts more conservative.

[fireflash38]

All it would take is one major disaster hitting the two most populated areas in CA to turn the state red.

[nozzlegear]

We're getting deep into the hypotheticals now, but that disaster would probably also wipe out what makes California such a formidable economic powerhouse -- maybe that would be one reason California would want to ally with Texas. The disaster might also kneecap the state's ability to field an effective military via the National Guard.

But like I said, what was interesting to me about the movie was the fact that the two states were allies against the Federal government, without any mention of the modern day left vs right culture war. It's interesting to think about how such an alliance could come to be when we remove the things we suppose might spark a civil war today.