RIOTUS

Do you ever think about the end of the world and how it might come to be? There was a time during the mid-20^th century when everything was focused on nuclear energy and just what nuclear weapons could do to the world. After getting close to the brink of mutual destruction during JFK’s presidency, it was something that always stayed at the top of the mind of our collective consciousness until it just wasn’t. Here, Kathryn Bigelow, with A House of Dynamite, takes a moment to bring some of these issues back to the forefront. Here, with a film written by Noah Oppenheim, is a piece of work that is clearly anti-nuclear weapons. That no one should have these weapons and no one, anywhere, should have to choose to bring about the end of civilization.

In the film, split into three chapters, each telling the same 18 minutes or so from different perspectives of people within the US government at various levels, up to the President of the United States. The setup is that an unknown missile is seen to be directed at the US and heading toward a US city. We see in real time what goes into the decision-making of what to do next, from if and how we respond to the attack. The film is a procedural political thriller with all the action being people reacting to screens and talking to each other. That may sound boring, but honestly, it’s one of the most tense films I’ve seen all year.

Every actor gives a great performance in this film and is believable as these very competent people in this high-pressure situation. Each chapter is focused to a point on one or two characters. The first section is on Rebecca Ferguson’s Captain Olivia Walker in the White House Situation Room and Anthony Ramos as Major Daniel Gonzalez,  a commander of a military base in Alaska that detects incoming threats. Both give excellent performances with their time on screen as full, well-rounded characters with lives outside of this, and seeing them respond to what’s happening while still being in charge. Both are very different, yet they feel like these people and become these characters. You think that they could actually do these jobs if necessary, with the confidence in how they deliver these lines.

Tracy Letts takes over the second chapter when it focuses on STRATCOM and General Anthony Brody. He plays the character as an affable, likable guy who still has command over his people. Big Greg Popavich vibes from him. An authority figure that doesn’t feel dangerous. This character partnered up with Gabriel Basso’s Deputy National Security Advisor Jake Baerington who’s at the very start of his character balances a person unsure of himself in such a situation with a person completely in control of what he’s supposed to do yet all that is out of the window and seeing both come to terms with that and what they think the President to do carries that section well.

The last section is about the Secretary of Defense Reid Baker, played by Jared Harris, and Idris Elba, with an interesting accent, playing the President of the United States. This section is the part of the film I like the least as we follow the President while he was doing his usual engagements with the public when things go left. The same with the Secretary of Defense, who’s golfing. It shows the people at the very top know the least of what to do, but they have the most power and the deciding vote on what happens. I don’t think Elba’s accent works, even if his performance is good. He should’ve just done his Stringer Bell accent again. Harris’ character left me cold as a whole, but I think Harris did a good job.

There are so many good small performances in this from Jason Clarke as Admiral Mark Miller, the senior Situation Room official, and Ferguson’s character’s boss, who does so much with his facial expressions to convey a lot about his character in a literal few minutes of the runtime. Greta Lee’s Ana Park, the NSA North Korean expert, is good. I wish there were more for Moses Ingram as Cathy Rogers, a FEMA official completely underwater, no knowing what’s going on, yet knowing something is going on that’s big. I could watch a sequel about just her. There’s just so little there in a part of government that directly connects to the public and doesn’t get enough time for me.

Bigelow has been a director I’ve loved since I was a kid, and I feel this is one of her best. I like how Bigelow and the Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd know that the primary audience of this film will watch this on TV in the largest sense and on a phone in the smallest. You’ll never be lost, and at times the film feels like a Zoom call that, in its own way, pulls you further in. Like you’re in a place seeing things you shouldn’t see. The editing in this film by Kirk Baxter is fantastic in how it builds and holds tension, along with making you care about characters you’ll never remember the name of.

I do wonder if this film works for everyone, as it’s kind of for wonks. It’s a very DC movie with scenes actually shot in Washington, DC, with some things that no longer exist anymore because of changes in political power. The film at times feels like a possible future but also a nostalgic look at the recent past that the filmmakers never planned to make. A House of Dynamite should be a must-watch and something to keep you awake at night. It’s at least a great-paced political thriller, even if you want to ignore how we all are on the precipice of doom at all times.