A House of Dynamite
This year's A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE, produced for Netflix, should've been a swift home run, a sure fire gut punch topical thriller that hits where we all live. How could a film whose plotline involves the possible annihilation of civilization go so wrong? Be so dramatically awkward? Especially with director Kathryn Bigelow (THE HURT LOCKER, ZERO DARK THIRTY) at the helm? The problem here is the screenplay, penned by former NBC News president Noah Oppenheim, who proves himself rather unseasoned. To say the very least.
We shuttle between the White House Situation Room, the Pentagon, and armed forces barracks as they monitor what is initially believed to be a test ICBM launched by North Korea. The concern grows deeper when the missile drops below orbit and heads in the general area of Chicago, expected to make impact in twenty minutes. Ground based interceptors are launched but either fail to deploy or miss the ICBM entirely. Doom seems imminent.
We witness the same scenario three times. First in the Situation Room with senior officer Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson) and her team. Then with Gen. Anthony Brady, Combatant Command of U.S. Strategic Command (Tracy Letts). Finally with the President of the U.S. (Idris Elba), grappling over whether to retaliate. Several other officials, including the Secretary of Defense (Jared Harris) are heard and later seen, or vice versa.
It's an interesting device, though some felt it dilutes the tension. Makes A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE feel as if the film only has a First Act. Maybe that's why the urgency just didn't come across for me. This unthinkable nightmare never felt real. I'm not sure how Bigelow managed to make such a limp film. Uncinematic, too. Much of this was shot like an episode of The Office.
It again goes back to Oppenheim's script, which fails to develop such ripe, promising material. Rather, creating mostly trite dialogue (aside from a few chuckle worthy lines) and repetitiveness that gradually saps any energy or involvement. The cutaways to the principals' social lives added nothing, certainly not any intended poignancy or heart thumping humanity. By the time we spend moments with the POTUS (in some rather embarrassing scenes), I felt more tedium than dread. Idris deserved better. Likewise for the entire cast.
Many have also criticized the film's ending, which seems abrupt. I'm not sure how it could have been otherwise. Neither a catastrophic or happy ending would've been satisfactory. Such a tricky plotline to conclude.
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