21 hours ago
3
A House of Dynamite ★★★★
In Kathryn Bigelow’s propulsive nuclear thriller, it takes 18 minutes for the ordinary to become the unthinkable: a single intercontinental ballistic missile has been launched from somewhere in the Pacific, America’s military apparatus kicks in, and the target is confirmed as the city of Chicago. Initial deaths in the millions are projected, culpability is assessed, and a possibly apocalyptic counterstrike is debated. The desk banter and calm professionalism give way to horrifying realisations.
Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson) in the White House situation room in A House of Dynamite.
With gripping efficiency, Bigelow moves the film through this countdown repeatedly, rising up the chain of command. It begins at an Alaskan missile base, with Major Daniel Gonzalez (Anthony Ramos) as the first responder, then the White House situation room where Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson) and her team monitor the globe.
Then the clock resets to follow the high-ranking officials previously heard as voices in hasty calls, including General Anthony Brady (Tracy Letts), before the final round with an unnamed president (Idris Elba) and his defence secretary (Jared Harris).
The heyday of nuclear conflict thrillers was 1964, when the grim collateral damage of Sidney Lumet’s Fail Safe and the megaton satire of Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove were released. All these decades on, and the American system is even more expansive but still flawed – a senior leader learning that a $US50 billion defence system successfully works only half the time is a moment of black comedy in a nail-biting narrative. Once the line is crossed, you realise, devastating escalation becomes the default response.
Idris Elba plays an unnamed US president in thriller A House of Dynamite.
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Bigelow (Point Break, Zero Dark Thirty) is the ideal director for this story. Her visual technique is masterful, constantly compressing detail and capturing intimate responses. Bigelow’s fascination with how far those who diligently wield a nation’s force can be pushed finds its ultimate expression here. Everyone does their job, even as they acknowledge what is about to likely happen, and it’s not enough. Power and certainty push upwards, until it’s Elba’s shaken POTUS being pulled out of a media-friendly public appearance to assess retaliatory options. He’s not ready. Who would be?
Repeating the same span of time from different perspectives should deflate the suspense, but it only grows more intense with each pass. The moments of familial regret and personal communication the characters allow themselves adds flecks of humanity, which only emphasises the imminent ramifications. Even though we’re onlookers to this nightmarish American exceptionalism, the global fragility in this what-if scenario is unavoidable as Bigelow and her crew expertly take you to the brink. “This is insanity,” the president exclaims. Brady replies: “This is reality.” In a House of Dynamite, they’re both right.
