As the years progress, technology develops, and nuclear weapons become even more deadly than they had been in the past. Kathryn Bigelow’s latest film, “A House of Dynamite,” proves that point tenfold.
The film begins quite normally, with Rebecca Ferguson’s character, Captain Olivia Walker, playing with her son before heading to work. However, Walker doesn’t work at any ordinary job, she’s the managing captain of the U.S. situation room.
What starts as an average day for the characters soon turns chaotic as an unidentified nuclear missile is launched, and nobody knows who is responsible or how to respond. With lives at stake and emotions running high, the film builds tension immediately, as each character is given a deeply personal reason for wanting to diffuse the situation.
I was hooked to see how the different characters were going to react, and how the event would turn out. It felt like there were mishaps at every step of the way, and the anticipation for the final strike on Chicago was intense.
When Walker was commanding the room, taking phone calls from other military officials, and the shots switched through locations, I was mesmerized. The phone call between the Russian delegate and the U.S. National Security Advisor was also beautifully shot, and amped up the stakes. The different camera angles added to the visual appeal and made the overall tone a lot more dramatic.
However, the tension I was feeling was ultimately cut off quite unexpectedly. Right as I was on the edge of my seat with the missile about to hit Chicago and seemingly no hope of stopping it, the scene was cut off and brought backward to a different perspective.
The characters I was used to and thought were the protagonists were never seen again, and I found myself watching the same scene of events all over again, just from a different location. And right when I thought I was finally going to get the ending, the scene stopped again and switched perspectives for a third time.
As each perspective shift happened, I found myself less and less immersed in the action. I went from being on the edge of my seat, to less invested but still involved in the storyline, to barely even caring about the missile.
It felt like the action was just being repeated, without adding anything too impactful plotwise. There wasn’t even new information being given to the audience. It was the same scenes we had already seen, just shot through a different camera angle at a new location.
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Even when the final perspective shift was ending, there still wasn’t a conclusive ending. While part of me enjoyed the ambiguity, I still would have liked something a bit more substantial for the two hours of political drama and high-stakes tension that ultimately fizzled out.
If this film hadn’t changed perspectives and instead stuck with the same grouping of characters from the beginning, it would have been a lot better.
Despite this, Ferguson gave an awesome performance, and her character was the one I wished to have seen the most of throughout the film. She did a stellar job at being both determined in her job, and still showing the cracks of humanity as she battled with saving the lives of millions and worrying for her own family. Honestly, she deserved a lot more screentime than she had.
In fact, all of the actors did a great job portraying the emotions of their characters and making the events seem very realistic. If it weren’t for the tension dying out and the lackluster ending, this would have been a great film.
As it stands, however, the film was just decent. I was expecting more to come from it, but by no means was it entirely bad. Overall, it’s not something I would go through the trouble of rewatching, but I am glad that I watched it the first time.