Directed By Daniel Goldhaber

Starring – Ariela Barer, Kristine Froseth, Lukas Gage

The Plot – A crew of young environmental activists execute a daring mission to sabotage an oil pipeline, in Daniel Goldhaber’s taut and timely thriller that is part high-stakes heist, part radical exploration of the climate crisis. Based on the controversial book by Andreas Malm.

Rated R for adult language throughout and some drug use

How To Blow Up A Pipeline – Official Trailer – In Theaters April 7 – YouTube

POSITIVES

Very few films have the capability of constantly gripping you on the edge of your seat while transcending space and time, but Goldhaber is a master craftsman at capably setting the stage, making way for one of the most riveting films that you’re sure to see all year. Between its unapologetic title and step-by-step illustrating in how to properly construct devastating explosives, one could easily look at this film and call it irresponsible. However, Goldhaber uses this to not only flesh out the vulnerabilities of the domestic oil business, complete with a lack of security in its accessibility, but also the vulnerabilities in the domestic terrorism of assembling the vital pieces of explosives, a majority of which can easily be found audaciously in convenience stores nationwide. Besides this, Goldhaber unravels the urgency of a scene with gravely dire consequences, continuously alluding towards all of the bad that could happen in human erroring, which not only often puts our protagonists in harms way, but also conveys how this whole plan could go wrong, long before they ever reach the site of their conquest. The technical merits certainly play into this, with meticulous surveillance style cinematography, versatility in color pallet between dual timelines, and a bold intricacy in sound design that magnifies heavy breathing and something as simple as the stretching of rope to make it feel like a ticking timebomb. However, as remarkable as Goldhaber is at illustrating an environment, it’s what he does on paper that is most impactful in alluring his audience, supplanting an atypical structure in device that places characterization secondary to the plan before us. He does this by kicking the film off with the materializing of the many pieces, without condemning or condoning the actions of the characters, instead proving that each of the eight assembled characters have a distinct set of skills that lends itself to the importance of the project. Keep in mind that this is long before we know anything about them, so essentially we just see them as terrorists at this point. Then, he throws a wrench into that ideal, as periodically throughout the engagement, we’re given a brief backstory into how each of them were lured into the plan, with results more often than not pulling something shocking, which not only contextualizes the motivating factor in each of their agendas, but also illustrates certain dynamics with a rocky foundation, which could certainly crumble at any second. A structure this unconventional could easily come across as disjointed and even haphazared if done poorly, but Goldhaber cleverly flashes back to them each time the element of danger in the foreground is at its most compelling, leaving the audience on a note of uncertainty that grows more cautious when we learn something integral about each of their character designs. Beyond Goldhaber, the work from the gifted ensemble help to ease some of the load of responsibility from his broad shoulders, without a single main character between them, which further emphasizes the team dynamic of its plot structure. For my money, Barer and Sasha Lane are the showstealers, with a near-sisterly dynamic between them that drives many of the exterior feelings and psychologies of the group, with a humbling of humanity for the girls that constantly alludes towards the monumental risks that each of them are willing to roll the dice with. Barer in particular commands attention with a sternly stoic look that equals a thousand words for her opposition, and in emitting much of the heavy dramatic lifting during the film’s pulse-rattling climax, conjures a struggle from within her that can be accentuated in all of the elements of the plan that unfortunately do not go as planned. For that climax, the film is very much responsible in the resolutions, but also intensely gratifying for how it leaves its biggest movements of the board saved for the moments they matter most, and with picture perfect pacing throughout a scintillating 99 minute run time in its favor, the film is able to enact a rarity where every scene of its script is beneficially justified in its execution, without a single moment that tests audience patience or undercuts meticulously designed pay-offs throughout.

NEGATIVES

Very little to scoff at here, but there are some unintentionally hilarious ironies to the design of environmentalists who put together a plan to rid the world of an extreme danger, before committing a few of them on their own. I’m not even talking about domestic terrorism, which could easily and vividly convey my argument, but rather driving as many as three gas and oil charged automobiles, a few characters dining on steak, and one character burying unused chemicals into the ground. If the consistency of their arguments weren’t so hypocritical in the unraveling of their routines, then maybe I could silence the voice of skepticism from within me that constantly overwhelms the intention, but I wish the script at the very least exploited this unnatural element, so it could at least serve a purpose in the greater good of their intentions. Beyond this, my only other problem with the film was in the usage and exploration of Marcus Scribner’s Shawn, who fails to make even a slight impression on the proceedings. Scribner’s performance is solid enough considering he’s given so very little to work with, but there’s so very little that capably defines his importance to the group dynamic, and I wish the film spent a little more time fleshing out his respective backstory, especially considering Shawn’s section of the flashbacks is shared with Ariela Barer’s Xochitl, instead of getting his own.

OVERALL
“How to Blow Up a Pipeline” is a tense and tautly plotted ecological thriller that is realized exceptionally through the frail minefield of Daniel Goldhaber’s edgy and unrelenting unique vision. Free from the monotony of preachy dialogue or heavy-handed intentions, the film instead solidifies itself as an edge-of-your-seat heist film that values suspense over sociology, in turn allowing much of the momentum and urgency of the narrative to remain within the confines of 100 explosive minutes of spine-tingling cinema.

My Grade: 9/10 or A