A House Of Dynamite – Movie Review

By: Dominic La-Viola

I had the opportunity to see  new war film from director Kathryn Bigelow. The director behind such films as The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty and Detroit.  With a script from screenwriter Noah Oppenheim. The person behind films such as “Jackie” and “The Maze Runner.” 

House Of Dynamite is just as much a thriller as it is a war film. Probably thriller, more so than war, yet still the film still manages to capture the same intensity, depth and fear of warfare with her latest film. 

This is a film that I didn’t intend to see, but was lucky enough to be able to attend a screening at the Alamo Drafthouse, before its release on Netflix, which being able to see this on the big screen was such a pleasure. I think being able to watch this in a room full of other movie goers really added to the experience.

The film starts off as a normal day in the Oval Office, with everyone starting their day at the ass crack of dawn. There is even moments of playful interaction among the colleagues. Keeping the tone light, but fit.

We are given time to be introduced to the characters. Get to know them, see what drives them, motivates them, stress and concerns them. 

Something that works so well as you’re watching it, you don’t realize that, the first ten or fifteen minutes of this movie is just being introduced to the characters in which we are about to embark on this journey with. 

The brilliance that is the first part of this film, is ultimately what hinders it for the remaining chapters. For what we have story outline that is similar to “Source Code” or “Groundhog Day” where we are seeing the same chain of events play out over and over. 

Yet the catch 22 is, that we see it happening through different people’s perspectives. The first part is very traditional storytelling. Us watching the events unfold. Then it cuts out, has a transition scene then restarts over with a different character POV. 

Now as I was watching the film, it began to feel very repetitive and hindering to the movie itself. Making it feel played out and dry. Each time we would reach a certain point, snap. We’re back where we started. 

Originally my thought process on this take had been, this seems like an amazing short film. That needed to stretched out into a feature into which they couldn’t produce, so here we are. 

Yet on the drive home, and I had quite a bit of a drive home to think about it. The real insight came to me as I was replaying some of the scenes in my head, wondering why they chose to layout the film as such. 

It’s the people. The people in charge, the ones who know what’s going on, their loved ones. Their lives. That’s what the movie was really about at its core. 

It’s not about nuclear war in terms of the aftermath, yet the moments leading up to it. The effects that the threat of nuclear war brings on the people behind the scenes. The ones who are responsible for making the calls. Things the public and the American people never know about. The decisions they must make. The weight of the knowledge that burdens them. 

Overall. At first while watching seeing the film, I was disappointed by the repetitiveness of the story, yet after the end credits roll and what I just watched had washed over me in full. 

I’ve come to a different conclusion. This is an astonishing film, one that takes chances, strives and leaps to create a bold story. One that will have you thinking long after the credits roll. Which this film does, and does so damn near perfectly. With only minor exceptions. 

Overall Rating 4.5 out of 5 Stars.