A House of Dynamite – Film Review
Reviewed by Harris Dang on the 11th of October 2025
Netflix presents a film by Kathryn Bigelow
Written by Noah Oppenheim
Produced by Greg Shapiro, Kathryn Bigelow, and Noah Oppenheim
Starring Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Gabriel Basso, Jared Harris, Tracy Letts, Anthony Ramos, Moses Ingram, Jonah Hauer-King, Greta Lee, and Jason Clarke
Cinematography Barry Ackroyd
Edited by Kirk Baxter
Music by Volker Bertelmann
Rating: M
Running Time: 112 minutes
Release Date: in cinemas now and available on Netflix from the 24th of October 2025
A House of Dynamite tells the story of the U.S. government’s response to a single nuclear missile launched by an unidentified enemy. The story is told through a triptych of perspectives, all through eighteen minutes before the missile strikes Chicago, killing millions. The film undergoes many intense deliberations, mistakes, hypocrisies, and prejudices that influence the characters’ choices.
We see first the perspective of Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson), a senior officer of the WHSR (White House Situation Room), who monitors potential threats to the U.S. The second perspective is Jake Baerington (Juror #2’s Gabriel Basso), the Deputy Advisor of NSA (National Security Agency). Finally, we meet the President of the United States (Idris Elba).
A House of Dynamite is the long-awaited latest film from acclaimed American filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow. While best known for her early sterling genre work like Near Dark (1987), Point Break (1991), and Strange Days (1995), she has also found prestigious critical acclaim for her socially and politically conscious work, including The Hurt Locker (2008), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), and Detroit (2017). She garnered several Oscar nominations, including a Best Director win for The Hurt Locker. Her latest film continues her trend and even after a long leave of absence, Bigelow still has the storytelling chops to deliver an intense, gripping, and thought-provoking piece of work.
Bigelow and screenwriter Noah Oppenheim both throw the audience straight into the deep end. They introduce us to several characters with exhilarating efficiency through glimpses of their outside work life and various human rituals of quiet bliss. Here is when Bigelow dexterously makes the moral waters murky by slowly instigating the fact people often confuse peace with quiet. If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
When the missile emerges, the whole US government is thrown into complete disarray. The blame is placed upon neighbouring enemies (all of whom have nuclear weapons) with various hypothetical motives (the notion of artificial intelligence as part of weapons testing is mentioned). Thankfully, the character portrayals and the drama are accentuated by the undeniable humanity behind them.
Speaking of humanity, when the film attempts to weave humour in the narrative, it is never treated as comic relief but cruel irony. An example involves an urgent call to Ana Park (Greta Lee), an expert on North Korean politics who is annoyed to be called on her day off with her son. The punchline is her hearing about the potential doom while gunshots from a re-enactment of the Battle of Gettysburg are heard in the background.
Like Park, all those tasked with major decisions care for their family or loved ones. Bigelow capably splits the difference in how characters communicate with one another as a question of caring about whether the entire world will end or just their own. None of these characters are outright villainous or incompetent at their jobs, which makes the drama scarier. Much credit belongs to the cast, with major players Ferguson, Elba, and Basso bringing much dramatic fervour to their roles. The supporting cast, Tracy Letts, Jared Harris, Anthony Ramos, and Jason Clarke lend credibility to proceedings.
Alongside numerous characters, Oppenheim’s screenplay spins many plates. His triptych narrative structure for example potentially creates story repetition. Fortunately, Bigelow and Kirk Baxter’s fantastic work keeps the narrative from becoming convoluted and jumpstarts the suspense into complete escalation. On the contrary, Barry Ackroyd’s jittery handheld cinematography, while effective in making the film hyper-realistic, borders on being parodic due to the technique already being overused in comedies like The Office and Succession. Similarly, Volker Bertelmann’s musical score veers from effectively bombastic to borderline farcical.
A House of Dynamite’s most controversial artistic choice though is its ending or lack thereof. With all the escalation, audiences will expect a payoff. Considering the real-life scenario, the impossible questions to answer, and nightmare implications, any sense of catharsis feels false or detrimental to its sole thesis. It may not provide the satisfaction audiences expect. Instead, it provokes discussion and debate, which is more than one can say for most movies.
Overall, A House of Dynamite is a triumphant return to filmmaking for Kathryn Bigelow as she shows what she does best. She delivers riveting filmmaking and thrilling entertainment through a politically and socially conscious lens that provokes thought, fear, and contemplation. Highly recommended.
Summary: Bigelow delivers riveting filmmaking and thrilling entertainment through a politically and socially conscious lens that provokes thought, fear, and contemplation. Highly recommended.
4.5
Outstanding
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