Kathryn Bigelow’s new thriller, A house of dynamitereceived mixed reactions from viewers in its first 24 hours on Netflix.
From three different angles, the film repeatedly recounts the 18 minutes following the launch of a nuclear missile on the United States – first from the White House Situation Room, then from the United States Strategic Command, and finally from the president himself.
*Warning – Major spoilers ahead for A house of dynamite*
The identity of those responsible for launching the missile is never explained – a deliberate choice by Bigelow (the director behind war films like Zero Dark Thirty And The injury record).
“The antagonist is the system we built to end the world in a flash,” Bigelow told Netflix. Tumdu.
The film ends on an ambiguous note: the president (played by Idris Elba) decides whether to let the missile hit Chicago to avoid a war or retaliate. The actual impact of the missile is never shown.
“I want audiences to leave the theaters thinking, ‘OK, what do we do now?’” Bigelow said. Tumdu. “This is a global problem, and of course I’m hoping against hope that maybe one day we’ll reduce nuclear stockpiles. But in the meantime, we’re really living in a house of dynamite. I thought it was very important to get this information out there, so that we can start a conversation. It’s the explosion that we’re interested in – the conversation that people then have about the film.”
However, expressing their disappointment on social media, many viewers spoke about how disappointed they felt by the ending.
“No one wants to hear the same story 3 times and have it end endlessly,” one person shared on X. “The director literally upsets the viewers 3 times and then walks out.”
“I was glued to the TV and then with this ending I was praying for the nuke to hit me,” added another. “Has to be in the conversation for worst movie ending ever. »
The ending also generated heated debate on the popular subreddit r/movies.
“I understand why they decided on this ending. I really do. But as I finished this movie, all I could think about was ‘People are going to hate this ending,'” one person wrote.
“I thought the first part was great, then it started to get repetitive and drag on,” said another. “I don’t mind cliffhanger endings, but it didn’t even feel like that to me. It just feels like an unfinished movie.”
Despite the complaints, A house of dynamite has a review score of 79 percent on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing.
In a four-star review for The IndependentGeoffrey Macnab called it “the most entertaining film about mass destruction since Doctor Strangelove.”
“Seventeen years ago, Bigelow became the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director for The injury record (2008). Whether or not she accomplishes a similar feat with A house of dynamite – becoming the first woman to win two – this new feature shows that when it comes to intelligent, adrenaline-filled dramas, she’s always on her own.
A house of dynamite is now available on Netflix.
