[Review] A House of Dynamite: Triple the Tension, Triple the Trouble
Kathryn Bigelow won the Oscar for Best Director with The Hurt Locker over a decade ago, and her subsequent film, Zero Dark Thirty, was considered one of the best of its year. Her latest work, A House of Dynamite, also centers on the U.S. military, but unfortunately falls short of her previous masterpieces due to script issues.
A House of Dynamite is structured into three chapters, each narrating the same event from the perspective of different characters. As soon as the first chapter concludes, the second immediately begins, rewinding time to the start of the incident and recounting the events from a new angle.
Each chapter revolves around various personnel within the U.S. government:
Chapter 1: White House Situation Room senior officer Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson), Fort Greely commander Major Daniel Gonzalez (Anthony Ramos), and FEMA official Cathy Rogers (Moses Ingram).
Chapter 2: Deputy National Security Advisor Jake Baerington (Gabriel Basso), U.S. Strategic Command General Anthony Brady (Tracy Letts), and NSA employee Ana Park (Greta Lee).
Chapter 3: Secretary of Defense Reid Baker (Jared Harris) and the U.S. President (Idris Elba).
Although their backgrounds and positions differ greatly, the beginning of each chapter shows them living and working as usual. The audience witnesses their mundane interactions with friends, family, and colleagues, making it seem like any ordinary day. The film specifically emphasizes these characters' personal bonds—some are mothers, some are fighting with their spouses, and some are about to become fathers—each having important ties to their personal lives.
At the very beginning of the film, a missile is ignited and launched from an unknown location. This triggers the central event: an intercontinental ballistic missile is heading toward the U.S. mainland and is set to strike an American city in just over ten minutes from the moment the military detects it. After a brief introduction to the characters' backgrounds, the film wastes no time in focusing on how they handle the crisis. The script meticulously presents the U.S. government's response, involving a large number of government agencies, officials, and technical jargon. The film looks almost like a documentary; aside from subtitle explanations for certain acronyms, almost no dialogue is used to provide extra context for the plot or terminology. While this increases the film's realism, it may hinder the audience's understanding and engagement. The film's rapid camera movements and quick editing capture the subtle changes in the characters' expressions and body language, which, along with Volker Bertelmann's unsettling and tense score, highlight the severity of the situation. With only minutes remaining before impact, the film operates in near real-time, documenting the clock ticking down. Government officials are fumbling at the edge of nuclear war, and everything is saturated with tension and a sense of imminent catastrophe.
Idris Elba in A House of Dynamite.
The script cleverly assigns different characters to the three chapters:
Chapter 1 focuses on mid-level employees in the government and military. They are experienced and familiar with their work, seemingly dealing with emergencies every day. They are the smallest cog in the machinery, responsible for executing policies set by the top brass. Yet, despite all their experience and preparation, they are out of their depth with this unprecedented crisis. Rebecca Ferguson's character, Captain Olivia Walker, initially appears serious and professional, but as the plot progresses, she reveals a vulnerable, human side, going against regulations to secretly warn her husband to flee with their sick son.
Chapter 2 centers on high-level officials. They are crucial presidential aides, experts in their domains, responsible for advising the President. As the missile closes in, the President must decide on a retaliatory action. Deputy National Security Advisor Jake Baerington and General Anthony Brady hold sharply conflicting opinions: Should they exercise restraint, or retaliate decisively? Their advice will affect the global situation and the lives of tens of millions of people.
Chapter 3 features the highest-ranking figures in the U.S. government. They wield the greatest power and will decide if and how the U.S. retaliates, yet they seem unprepared in this supreme position. The film's ending deliberately leaves a cliffhanger: we do not know what decision the President ultimately makes, only that he has minutes to process the situation and make a world-changing choice based on limited information. Jared Harris, playing Secretary of Defense Reid Baker, has a particularly poignant scene where he finally connects with his daughter, who is in the city about to be hit. Knowing she cannot escape, he can only hold onto the last chance to speak casually with her, to hear her voice. This moment is deeply moving, and Harris's performance is heartbreaking.
However, the film's structure ultimately sabotages its rhythm and tension. In the first chapter, the events are narrated primarily from the perspective of the Situation Room employees. Just before the missile is about to strike, and the President prepares to make a retaliatory decision, the screen cuts to black, and the film enters Chapter 2. From here, the story rewinds to that morning, where General Anthony Brady is casually discussing a ballgame with colleagues. We then witness the entire event from their perspective, which adds some detail about other characters, but the overall plot remains the same: the audience once again watches the interception fail and the missile approach the American city. At the end of this chapter, we see U.S. bombers and submarines ready for potential retaliation, but as General Brady asks for the President's decision, the screen cuts to black again for the final chapter. We are then back to that morning, reliving the events once more, and finally seeing the scene where the President is about to make his decision. Yet, the film ends there as well. As a result, the audience feels as if they have watched the same story three times. While each chapter contains its own tension and excellent performances, the overall effect is three identical stories that only end with a cliffhanger, lacking a complete resolution. While the intent of the director and writer may be clear, by the time the audience has witnessed the interception fail and waited for the President’s decision three times, all the initial tension is lost, and the film is beyond redemption.
Trailer:
Synopsis
When a single, unattributed missile is launched at the United States, a race begins to determine who is responsible and how to respond.
Photo and Source: Netflix