“The Earth is where we make our stand, It underscores our responsibility to preserve and cherish the only home we've ever known.” Carl Sagan
An unattributed missile is heading for Chicago—what to do? Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite (Netflix) is largely a nailbiter moving at lightening speed, like the missile itself, as brass and lower order soldiers try to make the right decision about neutralizing the nuclear threat and figure what country launched it. It's a mess but until the end a hot, good one.
The initial build up feels authentic and almost undercooked as everyone tries to believe that the danger is real. Bigelow and co-writer Noah Oppenheim make enough space for some standard tropes like loves and kids but not too much. However, the emphasis is on the authenticity of process: from generals and admirals to enlisted, from POTUS (Idris Elba) to situation room deputies, have they been trained to deal with a crisis like this? At some point that the 18 min. strike time is closeup, more chaos than not rules a military that is probably much more disciplined in real life.
Yet the film relies on our understanding of the current threats possible from N Korea and Iran, not just Russia and China. The film’s tagline, “Not if. When,” says it all about the possibility we must prepare for. Bigelow then can enjoy the cautionary tale aspect of this taut drama without inviting comparison with Dr. Strangelove. Not as humorous as Kubrik, but just a scary.
“This is not insanity. It’s reality.” General Anthony Brady (Tracy Letts)