Netflix’s ‘A House of Dynamite’ Would Have Worked Better as a Short Film

Ever since Kathryn Bigelow started making films back in the 1980s, she has seemingly dedicated herself to on-screen tension. The now award-winning director has become masterful at it — and her latest film is (mostly) no exception. First premiering at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival in early September and now a Netflix streaming hit, A House of Dynamite depicts a United States just about to explode, crumble, and be decimated. Watching our guardians in the White House scramble helplessly as a missile approaches is one of the heaviest — and most terrifying — moments you will see in cinema. Unfortunately, though, A House of Dynamite comes with a major weakness.

By bringing a documentary-style approach to the Situation Room, Bigelow quickly ramps up the suspense to a fever pitch. We practically don’t know anything else besides the millions of deaths that are headed to Chicago, and the dread — almost instantly — eats away at all the characters in the know.

The first act, which involves Rebecca Ferguson’s Captain Olivia Walker trying to respond, evade, or counteract this apocalyptic event, is utterly amazing in all rights. The actress’s grasp of emotion and authenticity elevates these opening moments into a heart-stopping sequence. Even though Olivia’s own sliver of the story never really leaves the White House, her unique perspective establishes itself well enough to become the strongest part of this harrowing tale.

‘A House of Dynamite’ Should Have Been Cut Down

Netflix

A House of Dynamite chooses the path of multiple perspectives, and the crisis regrettably deflates. With different characters (such as Jake Baerington, Anthony Brady, and the President of the United States), we go through the same timeline over and over. In a movie like this, starting at ground zero with the crisis and then stepping further and further out diminishes the tension and is the opposite of entertaining. Of course, Gabriel Basso, Tracy Letts, and Idris Elba add to this movie with their performances. But as a whole, A House of Dynamite would have worked much better as a short film, and Bigelow’s choice for an open-ended conclusion would’ve felt even stronger.

The two most significant events in this movie also take place within Olivia’s timeline (the first timeline, that is). The ground-based interceptors both fail in taking down this rogue missile — one doesn’t deploy, and the other one misses the target. The second turning point is when the alert level turns to Defcon 1 upon target confirmation.

These two moments are the most gut-wrenching in the film. At this point, the characters in the situation room have reached their emotional endgame. Some are on the verge of tears, and others are struggling to make what they consider their last phone calls. You can capture the same hopelessness that Bigelow and the rest of the crew display at the end of the two-hour movie by ending A House of Dynamite right here, with a silent, moving shot of the monitor displaying Defcon 1.

The First Act Is the Best Part of ‘A House of Dynamite’

Anthony Ramos as Major Daniel Gonzalez in A House of Dynamite

This cuts the movie down to about 28 minutes, and the first act — arguably, the most important section — becomes the entire plot. If A House of Dynamite were to cut to a black screen after the shot of the Defcon 1 marker, the ending still leaves the audience emotionally charged. Almost every character introduced in the film would still feel relevant. Given the performances of Ferguson, Anthony Ramos (who plays Major Daniel Gonzalez at Fort Greenley), and Jason Clarke as Admiral Mark Miller, the same level of suspense is present, too.

Within the first half hour, White House employees who once had nerves of steel are reduced to near panic. There are even some scenes that depict the ironic normalcy of the outside world, such as Olivia’s husband and child, as well as subtle hints towards Cathy Rogers’ divorce (played by Moses Ingram) — if there is a need for contrast to be shown.

Was there a big reveal or a twist ending that helped us make sense of the different perspectives? No. Writer Noah Oppenheim said that going in this direction would be an “easy out” during an interview at the 63rd New York Film Festival. But then why does the movie spend so much time with a North Korea expert? Why do we have a sequence of Baerington on the phone with Russia? The usual suspects are brought in, realism is emphasized, and the mystery is set into motion — only for the ending to be more arthouse than anything else.

If the goal from the very beginning stages of developing A House of Dynamite was solely to be thought-provoking, there was never a need to stretch the movie to almost two hours. Aiming for a short film would have been the key. Keeping it like this, everything feels a bit… pretentious. A House of Dynamite is streaming on Netflix.