1 of 5 | Idris Elba plays the President of the United States in “A House of Dynamite,” in theaters Friday. Photo courtesy of Netflix
A House of Dynamite, in theaters Friday, presents idealized examples of leadership in a tense scenario. While real life would surely be messier, Dynamite offers noble role models navigating a situation that will hopefully never come to pass.
Centering on an impending catastrophic missile attack, the film first introduces viewers to the crew of the Fort Greely Missile Battalion in Alaska. Back in Washington, D.C., senior officer Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson) has to lock her phone away before entering the White House Situation Room to be apprised of the crisis.
Once the officials have been assembled, the Fort Greely crew relays the situation: it has detected an incoming missile launched by unknown hostiles. General Brady (Tracy Letts) initially estimates it will hit off the coast of Japan, but soon realizes a major U.S. city is a likely target.
Over the course of the film, the scenario plays out three times from the perspectives of different characters. After the Situation Room/Fort Greely-centered take, viewers see the military response and then the perspective of the U.S. president (Idris Elba).
All three scenarios focus on competent people on phones trying to gather enough information to make impossible decisions. The script by Noah Oppenheim appears to reflect very well-researched procedure.
When the technical and military jargon gets potentially challenging, director Kathryn Bigelow uses on-screen text to explain acronyms and locations. Still, she respects the audience’s ability to follow along.
When Brady raises the DEFCON alert level from 4 to 2, even someone who’s never heard of DEFCON can sense the change is not good. While not explained in detail, viewers will know it’s bad to skip right over level 3.
The cast does a good job of depicting their characters breaking down and fearing for their loved ones, often trying to warn them of the danger. But, they all have to regain their composure to continue addressing the missile.
Keeping other staff members calm also becomes a necessity in order to get through the crisis. Whether that was in their job description or not, the task exponentially compounds the tension.
Each cycle of the scenario adds more context to other ends of the conversation. The second pass shows more of Brady’s conversations with his staff that he had while muted in the Situation Room, all while observing other nations preparing for their own military action.
Deputy NSA Advisor Jake Baerington (Gabriel Basso) has to negotiate with the Russian Foreign Minister to ensure in good faith that the missile isn’t Russian and secure commitments not to strike each other.
Brady is remarkably humble in his proposals to retaliate against the multiple countries who might have launched. He admits to the massive unknowns but has to encourage counterstrikes to preempt further potential attacks on the United States.
This type of temperance is definitely not the rhetoric we see on the news. Not only are these characters reasonable in the most trying circumstances, let alone basic day-to-day ones, they display empathy toward all of the people who will be involved in the consequences of these decisions.
These days, leaders behaving reasonably and displaying empathy may seem more fantastical than Harry Potter. It is a fantasy worth championing though, and A House of Dynamite certainly makes it cool to have empathy, even if suggesting deadly actions.
The unreliability of costly defense systems rattles some of the top brass who put their faith in them. Those systems still may be better than having no countermeasures, but nothing is foolproof and modern weaponry makes countermeasures even more precarious.
The final segment shows how the president copes with having to make a decision that was only hypothetical when he took office.
Though the countdown to impact is under 20 minutes, the three scenarios total 112 minutes. Even subtracting end credits and the introductory scenes the first time around, that the film doesn’t follow real time exactly never becomes distracting.
There are many more characters in A House of Dynamite that didn’t make the above synopsis. Those include, but are not limited to, Secretary of Defense (Jared Harris) and FEMA agent Cathy Rogers (Moses Ingram). The individuals at Fort Greely have their own internal dynamics too.
This shows how A House of Dynamite highlights every individual role in governing and decision making. It might be more realistic if one or two were not so competent or sensitive, as it takes all kinds, but Oppenheim and Bigelow believe in our better angels.
One would hope that everyone in charge of such pressured scenarios is more like the characters in A House of Dynamite than the basest of human nature. In a sort of Dr. Strangelove scenario without the satire, opting for idealism is the most poignant choice.
A House of Dynamite premieres on Netflix Oct. 24.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
