'A House of Dynamite' Review: Kathryn Bigelow's American Nuclear Thriller Explodes in a Vacuum
Every time Kathryn Bigelow drops a new flick, she slides further into the "not for me" collection of filmmakers. I can only watch so many procedural political thrillers before they lose their appeal. And don't even get me started on Detroit. Yeah, my review might say 5 stars — when I was 19, I thought that any Black trauma movie that made me cry was automatically a 5-star movie — but now I'm different. In any case, her first fiction feature since then shows her back doing what she does best: American procedural political thrillers. A House of Dynamite details the hypothetical bureaucratic fallout if the first missile fired after the Cold War was aimed at our American soil. It may seem like a thrilling technical spectacle; however, it diffuses into nothingness quickly.
Image copyright (©) courtesy of Netflix
MPA Rating: R (For language)
Runtime: 1 Hour and 52 Minutes
Language: English
Production Companies: First Light Pictures, Prologue Entertainment, Kingsgate Films
Distributor: Netflix
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Writer: Noah Oppenheim
Cast: Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Gabriel Basso, Jared Harris, Tracy Letts, Anthony Ramos, Moses Ingram, Jonah Hauer-King, Greta Lee, Jason Clarke
U.S Release Date: October 10, 2025 | Netflix: October 24, 2025
In a fictionalized contemporary America, an unknown missile is launched and directed toward Chicago. Told in three chapters and from the perspective of various governmental divisions, the US government tries to do everything in its power to respond and retaliate.
A House of Dynamite engages you with missile-focused structure.
A House of Dynamite. (L-R) Anthony Ramos as Major Daniel Gonzalez and Abubakr Ali as Specialist Dan Buck in A House of Dynamite. Cr. Eros Hoagland/Netflix © 2025.
A House of Dynamite is a stylistic fusion of Detroit and Zero Dark Thirty, focusing on the response of the relevant bureaucratic branches to the missile while simultaneously showcasing various perspectives in real time. The film begins at two locations: a military base where a typical aggressive-militant major commander (Anthony Ramos) berates his team into doing their job, and the NORAD Missile Defense station in D.C., following regular working Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson). That’s just chapter one. When the second chapter comes around and involves even more departments, the tension still feels very natural and is never overloaded with people. Every chapter delves into the significance of the attack from various perspectives, resetting the clock to "start of day".
There's no newness to Bigelow’s directional style here because doing this specific kind of thriller is just another walk in the park for her, but it is the best version of it. She forwent her usual two-editor-one-picture approach — with her usual collaborator William Goldenberg — and opted for David Fincher's editor bestie Kirk Baxter. Baxter, who has edited every Fincher flick since The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, including The Social Network and Gone Girl, showcases his exceptional prowess in his new Bigelow environment. His careful stitching creates a tense yet fluid 112-minute film, a masterwork of editing deserving of an Oscar nomination, while also harmoniously making her signature style feel breezy.
A flurry of weak characters are housed in A House of Dynamite.
A House of Dynamite. (Featured L-R) Tracy Letts as General Anthony Brady and Gbenga Akinnagbe as Major General Steven Kyle in A House of Dynamite. Cr. Eros Hoagland/Netflix © 2025.
Similar to Detroit, A House of Dynamite is an ensemble piece in which the audience primarily observes a variety of character actors perform a hypothetical with a humanistic undertone. Many of these actors effectively portray these caricatures despite the heavy professional jargon which contributes to the immersive, grounded atmosphere and the sense of dread. However, Noah Oppenheim’s afterschool-special-like screenplay does them a disservice. Oppenheim’s writing is so concerned with hitting the bureaucratic professionalism and their unified situational scrambling that by the time they have to show any sort of real humanity, he drops the bomb on himself, diminishing any genuine tense buildup for Lifetime cues by inserting hokey drama beats. Particularly within the third chapter, it pivots to Idris Elba as a generally incompetent POTUS and Jared Harris’s Secretary of Defense. Because nothing can be done about the missile, their shocked reaction leads them to call their families, and sometimes you get jump scared by a random character actor who is there for about two minutes — i.e Kaitlyn Dever as a Secretary of Defense’s estranged daughter and Renee Goldsberry as the FLOTUS who is on a safari for some reason.
Every character, or lack thereof, is written so thinly. The only character who felt like a person is Gabriel Basso as Deputy National Security Advisor Jake Baerington, who is the most relatable part of the whole movie: a young person late af to work and having to take a Zoom, so he’s walking and talking while his elders are stationed at their desks. It’s so funny and maybe the most stress-inducing aspect of the movie.
A House of Dynamite’s portrait of a fictional America is nuclear and noncommittal.
A House of Dynamite. Gabriel Basso as Deputy National Security Advisor Jake Baerington in A House of Dynamite. Cr. Eros Hoagland/Netflix © 2025.
While I enjoyed A House of Dynamite for its technical aspects, it's one of those recent airless political thrillers devoid of genuine heart. It realizes a hypothetical postmodern American nightmare that is heavily reliant on our current American nightmare. Even the dramatic sting score by Volker Bertelmann (which sound like a copy-and-paste from his work on Conclave) seem so insincere.
If there was a bar for postmodern American apocalyptic stories, A House of Dynamite just arrived and sat right next to Alex Garland’s Civil War, which also never stretched to make its own America. It's not committed to its own reality because it uses so many examples from our real-life history. Just as Civil War took me out of the experience by one reference to Antifa, this does the same with a reference to Russia's occupation in Ukraine. It carries itself with a stuck-up, one-note, annoying white liberal mindset wanting to speak to the incompetency of the American government while having a fictional, underwritten Black president. All the man wants to do is shoot some hoops with Angel Reese, damn it. Yes, Angel Reese is in this movie. See what I mean!?
Final Statement
A House of Dynamite is another example of Kathryn Bigelow's tendency to spin her wheels by producing films with the same old frustrated aura. While a technical marvel, it’s at the service of a hokey hypothetical that intends to detonate your suspense and winds up imploding on itself.
Please consider supporting Rendy Reviews. We’re an independent run, Gen-Z and Black-owned entertainment outlet. You can donate to our Paypal or Venmo to help keep our site running. Or become a subscriber for access to 13-years worth of reviews, exclusive interviews, and more! A free way to support is a sign up for the Rendy Reviews’ newsletter and get weekly emails about latest on movie reviews, interviews with film artisans, features, and more.
