A House of Dynamite review: Kathryn Bigelow's terrifying nuclear thriller is among her very best

As the opening caption reminds us, after the Cold War, political agreements looked to dismantle the nuclear arms race, but “that era is now over”. As we all know, countries including the US, Russia, China, North Korea and India all have nuclear arsenals. The question is, is anyone ready to push the button?

In Bigelow’s film, scripted by Noah Oppenheim, an unidentified enemy launches an unprovoked single missile strike against America.

“Is this real?” asks one character, as the realisation dawns that this is not a drill. Events are initially played out largely in the White House Situation Room, as Rebecca Ferguson’s Captain Olivia Walker attempts to handle the situation, whilst also coping with the fact her husband and young son are at home, and, like millions of others, in grave danger.

GBIs – Ground Based Interceptors – are launched, but as one character notes, knocking a nuclear missile from the sky is like “hitting a bullet with a bullet”.

Keeping it tight, the storyline covers about a third of the film’s running time, before Bigelow then switches locations, repeating events from other perspectives, including the Secretary of Defence (Jared Harris) and the President of the United States (Idris Elba), who is making a visit to a sporting arena, greeting young basketball players (he enters to rapturous cheers and the sound of Phil Collins’s drum-heavy anthem In the Air Tonight).

Bigelow has been here before, more or less. Her rather ponderous 2002 film K-19: The Widowmaker dealt with an impending nuclear submarine disaster. But A House of Dynamite is far more urgent, far more, well, explosive.

Of course, the film draws comparisons with the likes of Fail Safe and even Stanley Kubrick’s satire Dr Strangelove, but Bigelow’s relentless pacing and contemporary setting makes it feel utterly of the moment.

With a shrewdly-chosen cast, this is an ensemble to savour, including Jason Clarke, who featured in Bigelow’s hunt for Bin Laden tale Zero Dark Thirty, and Past Lives’ Greta Lee (as an expert in North Korean intelligence).

But this is not a film with a grandstanding singular performance (although Tracy Letts’s hard-hitting general comes close to stealing it). Rather, it’s a group of actors harnessing a collective energy to bring to life a terrifying story.

Giving you a unique fly-on-the-wall look at decisions that ultimately rest with the President, as he must consider whether to retaliate and usher in World War III or risk further strikes on American soil, it shows with clarity just how little time there is when it comes to deciding mankind’s fate.

“Surrender or suicide,” as the President is told, when he’s confronted with the “nuclear decision handbook”, which outlines three response strategies – “rare, medium and well-done”, as one operative says in a rare moment of black humour.

Although much of A House of Dynamite takes place in claustrophobic interiors – a world of big-screen monitors, desks, and half-drunk coffee cups – there are expansive moments that hit home, like the shot of buses pulling into Raven Rock in Pennsylvania, an underground facility for sheltering during a nuclear attack.

For sure, Bigelow has crafted a film that works both as nerve-shredding entertainment and as a thought-provoking anti-nuclear statement.

A House Of Dynamite is released in cinemas on 10th October 2025 and on Netflix on 24th October 2025.

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