A House of Dynamite

[Anonymous]

Wow I too thought this movie was so well done. I’m now interested in watching Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty.

I was ok with the ending and agree with pp that the minute to minute process was the point.

Anyone else surprised/not surprised that the President’s nuclear decision options were kept in a three ring binder with the paper protectors - probably some highlighting and post-it notes in that binder.

I guess if there’s a massive cyber attack, the three ring binder is critical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was very well edited. The young staff gave me pause, lol. And the lollygagging when there were literally minutes to do anything. Like launch more kill vehicles!

The end was unsatisfying.

The best moments were the dad on the phone with DD...that smile.

Jared Harris's face is incredible. So much emotion in microexpressions!

He's one of my favorite actors. There's something about him that just elicits such strong empathy toward his characters. Loved him in Chernobyl and The Terror.

[Anonymous]

I work in this field and was pretty underwhelmed. There are a lot of experts oohing and awwing about how realistic some of the scenes were - that's great. But retelling the same developments from multiple perspectives got old and the lack of a clearly defined outcome was frustrating. Also, GMAFB at the premise that a single missile, payload unknown, would have forced a do-or-die decision within 20ish minutes on whether and how the USG responds.

[Anonymous]

The more I thought about it, the more I liked the ending. Yes, as PP said, the movie was about the process. Showing the impact/result would only distract from the film's purpose.

More than that, though, I think my take away was that there is no option that would avoid catastrophe. For that reason, I found it actually a bit comforting-- Doesn't matter that Trump and Hegseth are morons, since even a competent and wise president probably couldn't save us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in this field and was pretty underwhelmed. There are a lot of experts oohing and awwing about how realistic some of the scenes were - that's great. But retelling the same developments from multiple perspectives got old and the lack of a clearly defined outcome was frustrating. Also, GMAFB at the premise that a single missile, payload unknown, would have forced a do-or-die decision within 20ish minutes on whether and how the USG responds.

I did at first think the idea we’d retaliate without a known aggressor absurd, BUT then I remembered the argument that we needed to ‘project strength after an attack’ is the same one that was used to justify randomly invading Iraq after 9/11 so I guess it’s not so absurd after all .. I do agree they made the ‘minutes to decide’ factor for purely dramatic effect

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read that the 60% success rate is fact. It literally is a coin toss.

When it has 60% success rate, you need to shoot more than 2. I thought that was dumb. Also the officer who carried the nuclear football, dont they use wrist chain?? I thought it was okay. Young Deputy NSA actor was not believable

[Anonymous]

The last time I saw a film with that kind of ending was in France, a French film (no longer remember the title). The final scene cut to text: "Sans fin."

Gee, thanks. A giant cop-out. I need resolution.

[Anonymous]

I let the credits roll after watching and there were eery explosion sounds.

[Anonymous]

I hated the ending. We’re supposed to believe that there is high drama in the choice between the President pushing the Big Red Button at T-2 minutes before impact vs. T+2 minutes after impact. Obviously you wait and see if there is an impact at that point. One nuke in Chicago would have zero impact on our second strike capability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I let the credits roll after watching and there were eery explosion sounds.

In that last scene with evacuees entering Raven Rock, there were two large chem trails streaking across the sky.

[Anonymous]

No such thing as a "chemtrail" -- they were "contrails": there is a difference. Only chemtrails I know of are over the country club.

On a more serious note, since the missile was on a ballistic trajectory, it should have been possible in the 15 minutes they had to determine with decent accuracy where it was launched from. It is solving an equation very similar to the one Katherine Johnson solved in "Hidden Figures."

[Anonymous]

I really disliked the ambiguity of the ending, but I guess it was supposed to make you think about the options and outcomes.

I did like the 3 POVs, especially with the Jared Harris character.

[Anonymous]

Any random idiot that works hard enough, is in the right place at the right time or has some path paved for them hold all the power.

We are doomed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was very well edited. The young staff gave me pause, lol. And the lollygagging when there were literally minutes to do anything. Like launch more kill vehicles!

The end was unsatisfying.

The best moments were the dad on the phone with DD...that smile.

Jared Harris's face is incredible. So much emotion in microexpressions!

He's one of my favorite actors. There's something about him that just elicits such strong empathy toward his characters. Loved him in Chernobyl and The Terror.

I just realized where is I knew him from - Mad Men. He is really good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No such thing as a "chemtrail" -- they were "contrails": there is a difference. Only chemtrails I know of are over the country club.

On a more serious note, since the missile was on a ballistic trajectory, it should have been possible in the 15 minutes they had to determine with decent accuracy where it was launched from. It is solving an equation very similar to the one Katherine Johnson solved in "Hidden Figures."

Thank you for that correction.