A House of Dynamite opens to low, menacing cello notes that recall John Williams’ iconic theme from Jaws, and to be sure, a monster is coming to devour everything and everyone in sight.
Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow’s first film in eight years is a geopolitical thriller of nerve-wracking, edge-of-your-seat, heart-in-your-throat intensity, charting the efforts of various segments of the United States government to cope with an impending nuclear strike. A nightmare unfolding in slow-motion, its every minute infused with unbearable horror, it’s a timely cautionary tale whose overwhelming suspense is apt to leave viewers sick with dread.
From Sidney Lumet’s 1964 classic Fail Safe to last year’s superlative seventh episode of Paradise, the threat of nuclear annihilation has been potent fodder for fictional scares, and Bigelow and writer Noah Oppenheim’s film—showing at the New York Film Festival ahead of its debut in theaters (Oct. 10) and on Netflix (Oct. 24)—crafts an of-the-moment update to the always relevant template.
Telling its tale in triplicate, each time from a different series of vantage points, A House of Dynamite begins at an Alaskan outpost where those monitoring the skies, managed by Major Daniel Gonzalez (Anthony Ramos), detect a projectile originating from somewhere in the Pacific that’s headed toward the continental United States. At first, they assume it’s another in a recent string of North Korean exercises, and so too does Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson), a mother and wife who runs the White House Situation Room.
(Warning: Some spoilers follow.)
Unfortunately, that theory is quickly disproven when Gonzalez’s team determines that the projectile won’t land harmlessly in the Pacific but will instead make contact with the American mainland in 19 minutes.
By this point, more bigwigs have entered the chat, including Secretary of Defense Reid Baker (Jared Harris) and General Anthony Brody (Tracy Letts), who runs STRATCOM, the heart of the country’s nuclear operations. With senior Situation Room official Admiral Mark Miller (Jason Clarke) by her side, Walker attempts to maintain calm amidst a rapidly gathering storm, convinced—as are so many of her compatriots—that the missiles launched from Gonzalez’s base will intercept the incoming armament before it strikes Chicago, which initial estimates suggest will result in the immediate loss of 10 million lives, followed by another 10 million thanks to wind-born fallout.
When that countermeasure flames out, however, those in Alaska and Washington can do little except wait, watch, call their loved ones, and pray for a miracle.
A House of Dynamite argues that the world will, in fact, end with a bang—several, potentially—and that before it, disbelief will give way to panic, fear, and shocked resignation. Bigelow’s handheld camera darts to and fro in its various interior locales, moving from astonished and anguished faces to enormous computer displays awash in maps, predictions, and inexorable countdown timers, and the director’s stewardship has a precision and urgency that’s as harrowing as Volker Bertelmann’s ominous score.
For a film whose action consists of men and women rapidly assessing and discussing an inevitable cataclysm processed through screens and telephone calls, it rattles and hums with excruciating anxiety.
When the doomsday clock hits zero, A House of Dynamite resets it, albeit from the perspective of Brody and Deputy National Security Advisor Jake Baerington (Daniel Basso), the latter of whom joins this historic conversation while running through traffic to the White House. Other characters float in and out of the narrative’s orbit, from FEMA official Cathy Rogers (Moses Ingram) and NSA North Korea expert Ana Park (Greta Lee) to press room official Abby Jansing (Willa Fitzgerald).
There’s also the President of the United States (Idris Elba), who’s heard but not seen until the final chapter, during which his seemingly normal day—spent at a basketball event with Angel Reese—is interrupted by news that the End Times are nigh. Spirited away to his vehicle and, then, a helicopter, Elba’s POTUS seeks counsel with his on-safari wife (Renée Elise Goldsberry) and Lieutenant Commander Robert Reeves (Jonah Hauer-King), who’s responsible for carrying the nuclear briefcase, if not equipped to give the commander of the free world strategic advice.
By the end of its maiden installment, A House of Dynamite reaches its conclusion. Nonetheless, Bigelow and Oppenheim continue to raise the proceedings’ stakes by addressing the unavoidable second crisis on the country’s hands: whether to stand down and hope that this is a one-off mistake, or to retaliate (against an undefinable target, since no one can pinpoint who fired the nuke) and risk WWIII with enemies who are readying their forces in the event of an American counter-attack.
As Baerington succinctly puts it, POTUS’ choice is between “surrender or suicide,” and the film’s terror comes from the dawning realization that, in such a situation, American has no incontrovertibly good option—not simply because its defensive capabilities aren’t up to the challenge (to Baker’s bewilderment, they offer only a “coin flip” chance of working), but because inaction and action are equally likely to lead to triumph or ruin.
A House of Dynamite doesn’t waste a second sermonizing, yet its story invariably speaks to our present moment, in which any number of loose-cannon adversaries (Russia, Iran, North Korea, China) could potentially pull the trigger on a global holocaust for various (logical and insane) reasons, and our responses would merely fan the fatal flames.
More unnerving still, it contends that no amount of highly qualified experts and officials might be able to avert this sort of disaster—a notion that, by definition, underscores the monumental peril posed by administrations which prize fealty over competence, selfishness over the national interest. In providing a multi-angle view of a believable catastrophe, Bigelow and Oppenheim deliver a stinging critique of our current reality, whose stability is one button push away from going up in smoke.
With a terrific cast led by Ferguson and Elba, A House of Dynamite is an anatomy of an apocalypse told in quasi-real-time and with a harrowing level of detail and a sharpness that cuts to the bone. Bigelow’s message is as easy to grasp as it is difficult to shake, and with her latest, she reconfirms her standing as our preeminent purveyor of modern warfare in all its unholy forms, affording a first-hand view of man’s foolishness and futility. Prepare to hold your breath for 112 minutes straight.
The post Kathryn Bigelow’s ‘A House of Dynamite’ Is an Unforgettable Nuclear Thriller appeared first on The Daily Beast.
