During her career, Kathryn Bigelow has produced a number of outstanding and intriguing films. Among them are “Near Dark” about a vampire family, “The Hurt Locker” which deals with the Iraq war, and “Zero Dark Thirty” about the search for Osama bin Laden. She has won two Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture (“The Hurt Locker”).
“A House of Dynamite” deals with the discovery and tracking of an ICBM already in flight toward the United States. As bad as that is, the origin of the missile is unknown. The time frame from confirmation to impact is in 19 minutes somewhere in the US. Intercept missiles are launched from Ft. Greeley, Alaska. As the situation unfolds, we see it through different perspectives: the observers who saw it first at Greeley, the people in the White House Situation Room, a group of six who will jointly advise the President, and finally the President himself.
All the characters you would expect are here. There are the techs in Alaska who discover the inbound missile and function while near panic as they wait for and then receive the order to launch two intercept missiles. There are the initially unbelieving members of the White House staff, led by cool Capt. Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson – “Dune: Part One”), the handful of presidential advisors including the Secretary of Defense Reid Baker (Jared Harris – “Reawakening”) the usual gung ho military types represented by General Anthony Brady (Tracy Letts – “Saturday Night”) and a young Deputy National Security Advisor Jake Baerington (Gabriel Basso – “Juror #2”) who urges restraint, and of course the President (Idris Elba – “Heads of State”), who is flummoxed by the situation he is thrown into at the last moment. Interrupted while talking with children attending a basketball camp, he is apprised of the situation and given a binder with possible retaliation options. He responds “What is this – it looks like a diner menu.” His aide calls the three levels of response “rare. medium, and well done.”
Bigelow and writer Noah Oppenheim (“Jackie”) have produced a taut, by-the-numbers thriller with some humanizing moments and modern day language. It is reminiscent of “Failsafe” in that it is unrelievedly tense with no humorous elements. Every character is delineated sharply, and falls into preconceived slots. That is, perhaps, its weakness. The black President is a basketball lover. The Generals are eager for blood. The National Security Advisor is cautious, The woman head of the White House Situation Room team is unflappable. And an important member of the ensemble cracks under the pressure.
It becomes predictable right up until the last moment of those 19 minutes. Still, it is one nerve-wracking ride.
Runtime: One hour, 52 minutes
Availability: Currently only on Netflix
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