It’s hard to believe it has been nearly a decade since we last had a film directed by Kathryn Bigelow. I’ve been a fan of hers from her early years when she was doing films like Near Dark, Point Break, and Strange Days. I’ve always felt she’s never been given the credit she deserves, but when she finally got recognition for films like The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, it just felt long overdue. Now that she has A House Full of Dynamite releasing on Netflix, I’ll be honest; I immediately expected this to be one of my top films of the year, and considering when it was being released, it seemed like a sure frontrunner as an awards contender. Sadly this film might be my first major disappointment of the year, and what’s frustrating is that it still might have one of the most riveting opening acts of the year. So where did it go so wrong? The film takes us on a journey in a “what if” scenario where the US has a nuclear weapon fired at it from an unknown origin, though the best possible guess is North Korea. The film is broken up into three parts, each part focusing on different figures as they are faced with the same problem. It starts in the Situation Room with Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson) leading the effort to track the missile, and along the way we meet several key figures involved with trying to shoot the missile down to the President (Idris Elba), who is the key focus of the third act. This first act is phenomenal, and if it was simply a short film, it would deserve so much praise …The problem is that as each act is replayed, even though we are seeing new characters added to the mix to heighten the drama, it loses its impact because we’ve already seen the moment play out, and the story doesn’t move forward, but simply sidesteps and avoids answering questions or giving us any sort of payoff by the end.
Sure, this is a very real scenario that is depicted here, and the questions presented here are terrifying. Knowing how easily an impulsive decision could create a global nuclear war is unsettling, and seeing how quickly things can spiral and how there just wouldn’t be enough time to evacuate a large city that was targeted … these are things that hit really hard in this film and will likely keep some viewers up at night to ponder what they would do if a strike ever did occur. I’m not saying that the film doesn’t have drama. It’s jam-packed with drama and tension, but there’s no release, no resolution. I don’t need to see a grand-scale fallout from the impact or even an all-out war, but the film is just left so wide open that it feels incomplete. The best way I could describe this is that it is like watching an episode of 24 but never getting to know anything else that happens after. They give us so many characters experiencing the same thing, but no resolution, and that just annoys me.
The film does attempt to tug at the heartstrings, for instance when one of the characters finds out what city is supposed to be impacted and he realizes his daughter is there and there is nothing he can do to save her. Then there’s another moment when a member of the FEMA team is chosen to go into hiding in a protected bunker while her coworkers are basically left there to die. The film would have done better if we had more of these moments, bringing it down to a personal level and seeing these decisions and the impact it would have on others. Instead the film just wants to focus on the major question “What do we do?” as in do they immediately strike back against an unknown enemy and create a world war, or do they wait for clarity? Maybe they should wait in case the missile turns out to be a dud? Again, these are major questions, and it’s what drives this film, but it gives no answers.
The writing is great, and the performances from the entire cast are great. The way the film is shot is something I felt was impressive, how it is very claustrophobic and chaotic at times. On a technical level the film is certainly award-worthy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it got a nomination for the film’s editing. Unfortunately it’s the execution of the rest of the story where this film flounders.
I wanted to love this film. I really expected this to be more than what it turned out to be. I wish I could blame high expectations on this disappointing me, but that isn’t the case. I know some will praise this for its Rashomon approach to telling the story, but where they get it wrong is that Rashomon at least progressed the story and gave the audience an ending. A House Full of Dynamite just raises so many questions that I can’t give it a pass. Sure, I like a film that lets the audience figure things out on their own, but this simply leaves so many plot threads dangling that it fizzles out upon lack of impact.
