A House of Dynamite

A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE (15)

D: Kathryn Bigelow

Netflix / First Light / Prologue / Kingsgate (Greg Shapiro, Kathryn Bigelow & Noah Oppenheim)

US 🇺🇸 2025

112 mins

Thriller

W: Noah Oppenheim

DP: Barry Ackroyd

Ed: Kirk Baxter

Mus: Volker Bertelmann 

Idris Elba (President of the United States), Rebecca Ferguson (Capt. Olivia Walker), Gabriel Basso (Jake Baerington), Jared Harris (Reid Baker), Tracy Letts (Gen. Anthony Brady), Anthony Ramos (Maj. Daniel Gonzalez), Greta Lee (Ana Park), Jason Clarke (Adm. Mark Miller)

Kathryn Bigelow truly is an expert in cinematic tension, and that praise isn’t just exclusive to the war and action movies which she has helmed.

This political thriller takes place in the US governments offices of power, where a nuclear threat from North Korea is observed from various perspectives.

The first third shows events from a surveillance room following the initial detection, where US intelligence predicts the ballistic has a high chance of striking Chicago.  These scenes of tension are intercut with a military installation in Alaska that attempts to neutralise the threat, albeit unsuccessfully.

The second third of the film, shows things from a different perspective of high ranking government officers, bringing conversations with Russian officials into the fold as decisions need to be made on the best response tactic, before the final third focuses on the resolution the US President (Idris Elba) ultimately has to take, some of which could trigger a nuclear war between various nations.

It really is edge-of-the-seat, nail-biting stuff, though the ambiguous ending won’t be for everyone as it doesn’t answer any questions that build up over the 112 minute running time.  Nevertheless, it’s still a well-written piece of work, with editing, performances and cinematography that puts you right in the room with the people facing the threat, as the world outside goes ignorantly by without any knowledge of impending doom.

If this is what 2025’s War Of The Worlds wanted to be, it was well short of the mark.

7/10