(****)

“Object remains inbound!” Those aren’t the words you want to hear when a nuclear missile is headed your way. 

Yet that’s the ominous news that bombards government officials in this very imaginative, pulse-quickening thriller. News that brings astonishment, audacity, mystery, dread and a disarray that’s alarming. In the hands of some directors, the bomb’s explosion would be the point, of a far-fetched and frenzied disaster movie. Instead, the goal of this thoughtful script by Noah Oppenheim (Jackie), is to scare the bejesus out of audiences in another way.

By suggesting that if there was an impending nuclear attack, things might not go as planned. That the world’s strongest military force and most formidable super power might flounder. It’s feasible enough to be intriguing. The plotline, as interpreted by Oscar®-winning director Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), offers three perspectives of the same astounding incident. A Roshomon technique that’s discernible, but let’s a little bit of air out of the tire. A nail-biting journey that starts with a bang, splinters and ends with a haunting finale.  

Up at the Fort Greely U.S. Army Base in Alaska, Major Daniel Gonzalez (Anthony Ramos, Hamilton) sees a blip on a screen that’s concerning. He and his crew can’t believe their eyes and tracking instruments. Some country, which they can’t discern, has launched a nuclear missile in the Pacific Ocean. North Korea? Russia? China? Previously, these test missiles landed in the sea. But this time the warhead is traveling east, on a trajectory that leads to Chicago. A metro area of 10 million people. Officials are called, messaged and warned.    

A defense team assembles in offices or remotely: Captain Walker (Rebecca Ferguson) senior duty officer of the Situation Room; the Room’s commander Admiral Mark Miller (Jason Clarke); Secretary of Defense (Jared Harris), General Brady (Tracy Letts) who leads the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM); Deputy National Security Adviser Jake Baerington (Gabriel Basso) and of course the President of the United States (Idris Elba). They’re all in lock step, so you’d think. All doing their jobs and trying to solution their way out of this crisis. But s—t happens.  

One of the first lines of defense against an attack is a Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI). A missile taking out another missile. With the greatest technology in the world, that should work, right? The Secretary of Defense is incensed: “This is what $50 billion buys us!!!” When it’s explained to him it’s like trying to stop a bullet with a bullet, that explanation and its imagery are not consoling.  

All on view, as directed by Bigelow, is perfectly choregraphed. It’s a skill she displayed best perhaps in her film Zero Dark Thirty. There is never any confusion with her storytelling technique. It’s easy to discern what’s going on. Easy to ascertain the major players’ and their jobs. They seem earnest, yet like they’re fallible human beings. People worried as much about saving millions of citizens from a bomb as they are about protecting their own families. It’s only a movie, but it poses the kind of questions one would fathom if pondering how the nation would response under serious attack. Would everything work perfectly to avert a disaster?  The storyline says, maybe, maybe not. And that’s why it’s so damn engrossing.

Judging by how the government is run these days, there’s just enough plausibility here to give audiences in theaters or on Netflix the chills. Adult audiences more so than young ones. For 1hr 52m they’ll be spellbound, wondering, waiting and anticipating. There’s little time to breathe because Bigelow and editor Kirk Baxter (Oscar®-winner The Social Network) don’t take their feet off the gas. No lapses, no fat. Just footage that compounds the feeling of fear. Barry Ackroyd’s (The Hurt Locker) cinematography chronicles jets in space, a president’s intimate back-of-limousine conversations and daily family life with equal clarity. While production designer Jeremy Hindle makes the offices, control rooms and homes look as tidy as they should be.  

This is high quality ensemble acting. The actors feign anxiety, shock and horror well enough to make viewers feel like their concern is real. As danger gets closer and closer the looks on their faces get more and more serious. Like there may be no way back from this looming apocalypse. Ferguson feels like the strongest contributor. A generous and sensitive boss who breaks the rules to show her staff compassion. Yet as tough as nails when dealing with superiors. Harris as the enraged Defense Secretary gives the most memorable performance because he expresses the anger viewers will feel when defense systems fail. Elba plays the POTUS with Obama’s casualness and Bush Jr.’s unpreparedness. He doesn’t seem military-trained, like an Eisenhower. It’s a modern and odd interpretation of the highest office in the land. A quirkiness U.S. audiences have come to expect these days from presidents. 

Anyone who knows the real mechanics of America’s defense system and government may find errors. But those who love thrillers that involve military and political intrigue will be fascinated at how this tale pulls the different departments together and makes them all look like deer caught in the headlights. For almost two hours!  

Prepare to have your nerves frayed in ways you can’t imagine by a film that doesn’t spill one drop of blood but leaves you as devasted and emotionally battered as you would be if you’d watched the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.    

Bigelow, Oppenheim’s script and a talented cast take you there. By film’s end you’ll need a stiff drink, some strong weed or a calming walk around the block. That’s the mark of a riveting thriller. That’s what’s coming inbound. 

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wpw2QHJNco
New York Film Festival photo with cast at premiere courtesy of Dwight Brown. 
For more information about the New York Film Festival go to https://www.filmlinc.org/nyff/  
Visit Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com.