The new Netflix political thriller A House of Dynamite is now streaming, marking Kathryn Bigelow’s return to feature filmmaking for the first time since Detroit (2017).
The Academy Award-winning director behind The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty delivers another nerve-racking story — this time about a single, unattributed nuclear missile launched at the United States and the desperate race to identify who’s behind it before it hits.
Released globally on Friday, 24 October 2025, A House of Dynamite stars Idris Elba as the US President, Rebecca Ferguson as a White House duty officer, and Anthony Ramos, Jared Harris, Greta Lee, and Tracy Letts in supporting roles.
The film was written by Noah Oppenheim and produced by Netflix, with cinematography by Barry Ackroyd, known for his gritty realism in The Hurt Locker.
Set largely in real time, the film begins with routine scenes of government workers and military officers going about their day — until radar systems detect a mysterious missile launched from the Pacific.
Within minutes, the United States faces a doomsday scenario. Ferguson’s character, Captain Olivia Walker, must coordinate a response from the White House Situation Room as panic spreads through the government.
At Fort Greely, Alaska, Major Daniel Gonzalez (Ramos) and his team scramble to intercept the missile, while the President (Elba) is evacuated from a basketball game and forced to make impossible decisions from the air.
As systems fail and communication breaks down, Bigelow captures the raw tension of a nation on the brink of catastrophe.
Critics have praised the film’s realism and pacing. USA Today described it as “a nail-chewing political thriller” that leaves viewers “as torn and confused and at wits’ end as the people trying to avoid doomsday”.
Reviewer Brian Truitt noted that Bigelow’s choice to replay the same sequence three times — each from a different character’s perspective — deepens the emotional impact, even if it occasionally slows the pace.
While the story is fictional, its themes hit close to home. The film explores how political and military leaders respond when their systems of control collapse under pressure.
“Even with an administration full of smart, capable people, no one is properly prepared when nuclear weaponry is triggered,” Truitt wrote.
A House of Dynamite premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2025, earning Bigelow a nomination for the Golden Lion. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an 84% approval rating, with critics calling it “an urgent thriller that’s as distressing as it is riveting”.
Bigelow’s film is both a thriller and a warning — one that questions how fragile global security can be when trust and communication break down.
Between the tension-filled command rooms, desperate phone calls, and moral choices made under fire, A House of Dynamite keeps viewers on edge until the very last frame.
