A House of Dynamite

The continual repetition of the original 20 min storyline took far too many Christopher Nolan-esque References for my liking.

The performances were all good, but knowing that this film isn't going to progress once you realise the ending in the first act left me feeling a little conned tbh. It's a shame because I think the drama up till then held my attention.

The film unfolds from three different perspectives, with Bigelow experimenting with multiple angles, offering a complex and tense vision of the events. However, as each perspective unfolds, a sense of déjà vu begins to appear, and interest can wane slightly. At times, the repetition of tense moments makes the small details stand out more.

The first act is exceptionally well-crafted - it grabs you, builds tension perfectly, and makes you believe something truly extraordinary is about to happen. Bigelow creates a pressing atmosphere from the very first minutes, with carefully framed shots and a rhythm that keeps you engaged.

But by the second act, everything begins to unravel. The film becomes harder to follow, the initial tension fades, and the experimentation with perspectives and angles starts to feel more tiring than engaging. Overall, it comes across as an experimental film that fails to maintain its initial promise.

Zero Dark Thirty was about the past. The Hurt Locker wasn't about the Iraq War; it was about the protagonist's personal drama. This film, on the other hand, resonates through tension and fear, showing how people live with uncertainty and danger in the present.

It's not just a story about war or the threat of nuclear disaster, but about the emotions and decisions of people under extreme pressure.

PS: Don't rush to criticize it as a total failure - the director's intention and the concept itself are not bad at all. The only problem is that the next two perspectives don't reach the level of the first. Had they managed that, it could have been a 10/10 film.

The whole story is told within 30-40 minutes. Then the same story is told 2 more times from different perspectives. And they come to no conclusion, no new information, nothing.

It's 3 times the same story with no added value.

They tried to do some artsy movie using the petal story structure, and utterly failed to deliver the whole point of a petal story structure.

"House of Dynamite" is a bold film in terms of its structure, which I believe will be the most divisive element among viewers.

The film uses a flower narrative style. Which is a story told through differing perspectives that ideally come together like puzzle pieces to form a complete picture. When done right, this approach creates intrigue and mystery as each segment reveals something new. Unfortunately, that wasn't quite the case with "House of Dynamite."

Each perspective failed to add meaningful depth or new information to the overarching story. Instead, the same dialogue and moments were replayed multiple times, which quickly became repetitive and dull. I understand what the filmmakers were aiming for, but the execution never fully realized the potential of its structure. There were no fresh insights gained from the shifting perspectives just retreads of what we'd already seen.

The dialogue also felt overly on-the-nose and occasionally corny, with line deliveries that leaned too heavily into melodrama.

Where "House of Dynamite" truly shines is in its exploration of the moral and strategic decision making between individuals and departments. Those moments were far more engaging than the story's overall presentation.

In the end, "House of Dynamite" had the foundation of a great film, but its structural choices ultimately held it back from reaching its full potential.

A House of Dynamite was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, the mind behind Zero Dark Thirty and Detroit. Unlike the latter two movies, however, the former fails to deliver.

What another review calls a "flower narrative style" is not one of the ways that I care for a story to be told in film, but I do acknowledge that it has become somewhat fashionable in recent years. Additionally, the ending of the picture was as abrupt as it was deeply unsatisfying. I will not encourage anyone to watch it.