Review: A House of Dynamite

Warning: contains spoilers.

I had been looking forward to Kathryn Bigelow’s new film for Netflix, A House of Dynamite. On the face of it this should be exactly our sort of film. Vantage Point, the 2008 film which shows an attempted assassination of an American President from multiple perspectives is a firm favourite. A House of Dynamite promised to be something not dissimilar in structure, with the twist of portraying the challenges of decision-making in the heat of an active nuclear strike.

The film promised to be story and character-focused and therefore ideally suited to Bigelow’s directorial style and the constraints of TV films with their limited budget for action, special effects and location. Unfortunately what results is a phenomenally boring plodding procedural in which the characters fail to behave in a professional manner as one hopes their real counterparts would do, and everything is left unresolved by a "non-ending".

Unlike Vantage Point which carries on past the shooting and explosion to complete the story, this film just stops, short of the missile’s impact. We never learn what happens next, or why. I understand that the writers and director were trying to focus on the challenges of making crucial decisions under extreme pressure and with limited information, but in reality those decisions would wait on at least confirming that a real bomb has exploded.

The story never proceeds past the first, lone missile. We don’t even know if it actually hits, or actually explodes when it does so. There is some discussion about the urgency of deciding on a retaliatory strategy, but given the uncertainties including who fired the missile and under what political or military orders one can’t help thinking that in reality one would wait until some of that uncertainty had been resolved. It’s shown that the US already has its planes and submarines ready to respond and waiting until more information was in place would not preclude a response if one were required.

There’s no real attempt to resolve the origin or purpose of the strike, which to my mind is critical to the response decision process. We’re told as a plot device that somehow US surveillance missed the actual launch, but surely it should be possible to trace the trajectory back? Can nothing be deduced from the flight path characteristics? Is there any useful signals or human intelligence?

To my mind the options include:

1. Genuine first strike sanctioned by the regime of Russia, China or North Korea. This seems unlikely as there’s no obvious motive, and the characters don’t discuss any geopolitical context which might explain it. Also surely more than one missile would be launched, and there would surely be a more obvious attempt to disable the US ability to respond. Also destroying a major US city guarantees a massive response in the way a lesser or military target might not. Given the uncertainty about the origin, against whom do you respond? There’s literally no evidence for this option, and hence no justification for the "bomb everybody" response that the military characters are suggesting.
2. Official but dummy strike to probe US capabilities, readiness and resolve. In this scenario the missile either destructs a few miles short of Chicago or makes a large but harmless splash in Lake Michigan. A lesser response is required, and you still need to work out against whom.
3. Deliberate launch by terrorists or rogue elements acting independent of main regimes. We are shown the Russian foreign ministry desperately trying to say "it’s not us" and told China is saying something similar, which supports this option. Unlike in Crimson Tide or Hunter Killer there’s no background context such as a Russian insurgency to support this explanation. Again if this is the case it demands a more measured response, and you need to work out against whom.
4. Accidental launch, due to either a human or technical failure. This is a horrible possibility. Yet again any response has to wait until you understand the outcome of the impact and the missile’s origin.

I don’t know how accurate a portrayal the film is of the process under which the president would make a decision about a response, but you can’t see even President Trump making a snap decision to simultaneously attack all America’s enemies and start WW3 without more information.

Some other plot devices are also not credible. The president is hurried onto Marine One, a large helicopter in perfect condition, but is accompanied only by the army officer with the nuclear football. What happens to the president’s assistants and advisers who were also at the basketball game and might be able to help analyse the situation?

The isolation of the president is enhanced by unrealistic comms issues. We’re shown one of the National Security Advisers joining the central call by video from a phone even as he’s running around Washington and going through security, but the president is restricted to a poor quality audio-only link from The Beast and Marine One. The vast White House machine is unable to patch calls together, so more junior characters have to take key calls and then relay to more senior characters third hand. Really?

A very surprising number of central characters behave in completely unprofessional ways, having breakdowns, focusing on personal considerations rather than their duties, even committing suicide. At one point Rebecca Ferguson’s character, who is in charge of the situation room, sends her deputy out to fetch personal mobile phones from their lockers. You think maybe she’s come up with a cunning solution to the problems with the White House phone system but no, she makes a personal call and he stands catatonic scrolling through pictures of his family. While it is certainly true that not everyone would live up to the expectations of their role, these people are chosen and trained to do so and you would hope more would get on with it.

This film is a complete waste of an opportunity and a strong cast. If I had paid to see it at the cinema I’d be wanting my money back. Fortunately it’s part of my Netflix subscription, which is currently otherwise good value, but it was still a frustrating waste of my time.