Somewhere over the Arctic reaches of North America, a nuclear bomber flies in a squadron, awaiting its orders. When a secret code appears on a machine in the cockpit, the crew looks at each other, stunned. The code is instructing them to attack. Ripping open a sealed envelope marked “Top Secret,” the pilot reads the name of their target: MOSCOW. They set their course. The end of the world has begun.
Or so they think. It’s actually all a big mistake—the result of a computer glitch at a military base that sent the attack code to the bomber by accident. This is the premise of Sidney Lumet’s 1964 masterpiece Fail Safe—a movie that asked Cold War audiences to question unbridled nuclear weapons proliferation at a time when, to many, building up a massive arsenal seemed like an imperative.
I watched Fail Safe recently to remind myself just how good it is after I was left disappointed by A House of Dynamite, Kathryn Bigelow’s portrayal of a nuclear crisis, which arrived on Netflix on October 24.
Some political analysts argue that nuclear war has never been more likely than it is today. And yet, despite that ongoing threat to humanity’s very existence, few films or TV shows seem to agonize about the prospect anymore. A House of Dynamite bucks the trend by thrusting nukes back into the spotlight.
In the film, radar systems detect an intercontinental ballistic missile of unknown origin barreling toward the US.
Analysis of the missile’s trajectory soon reveals its likely target: Chicago. A weapon like that, government officials tell each other, could kill 10 million people on impact. Many more will likely die due to radioactive fallout created by the nuclear blast. The missile will hit in just 19 minutes, meaning there’s no time to evacuate Chicago. All America can do is try to shoot down the ICBM, while contemplating catastrophe.
The first act is gripping. Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson), a senior officer in the White House Situation Room, quickly recognizes the magnitude of what is unfolding on the big board in front of her and her colleagues. We feel the urgency of each desperate action, order, and argument that follows.
But A House of Dynamite is nearly two hours long. Those 19 minutes till impact are both elongated and played out no fewer than three times, from three slightly different perspectives. In the second act, we join generals and government officials on a bizarre Zoom call as they try to work out what, if anything, they can do. And in the third act, we follow the US president, played by Idris Elba, who looks hopelessly bewildered, even before he learns about the incoming ICBM. In short, the tension gradually dries up, the script falls flat, and we never even find out what comes of it all. The ending, or lack thereof, has enraged some viewers.
