Plot
The film is non-chronological, showing the same sequence three times from different perspectives. Each section has a separate title.
Inclination Is Flattening
One morning in Washington, D.C., Capt. Olivia Walker, the oversight officer for the White House Situation Room, is informed of several geopolitical developments: an imminent exercise by the PLA, suspicious chatter between Iran and its proxies, and silence from North Korea after a recent ballistic missile test.
The Pacific-based SBX-1 early-warning radar detects an unidentified ICBM launch; surprisingly, the missile is not detected at launch, but rather mid-flight over the northwest Pacific. Initially presumed to be a routine North Korean test, the situation changes when the ICBM enters low orbit, with a trajectory targeting Chicago within the next twenty minutes.
A video conference is initiated between the Situation Room, the Pentagon, and various commands of the armed forces. The President joins last, and alertness is raised to DEFCON 2. NORTHCOM directs units under Maj. Daniel Gonzalez at Fort Greely, Alaska to launch two ground-based interceptors (GBI); the first GBI fails to deploy while the second misses impact with the ICBM, horrifying Gonzalez, who vomits outside. Alertness is raised to DEFCON 1.
Simultaneously, Secretary of Defense Reid Baker initiates the government's continuity of governance protocol, resulting in designated federal employees, including FEMA official Cathy Rogers, being evacuated immediately. Deputy National Security Advisor [a] Jake Baerington, who was rushed to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC), advises the President to not retaliate until the missile’s origin is confirmed. With impact only a few minutes away, Walker phones her family to warn them to leave the D.C. area.
Hitting a Bullet with a Bullet
The same morning, at Offutt AFB in Nebraska, STRATCOM commander Gen. Anthony Brady is informed of the launch, and joins the conference call while B-2 bombers under INDOPACOM are scrambled to prepare for possible retaliation. Brady's team observes that China, Russia and Iran have mobilized their forces; he presents the President with the OPLAN 8010 and recommends immediate retaliation.
While Baerington rushes to the PEOC, he considers attributing the launch to North Korea, and refers to NSA advisor Ana Park, who infers North Korea may possess submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Baerington and Park warn that failure of the DSP satellites to detect the launch could be indicative of a cyberattack against U.S. C2 systems.
Baerington speaks with Russia's foreign minister, who denies that they and China launched the missile, but threatens retaliation should Russia be targeted. Baerington attempts to convince him to stand down all Russian military assets in goodwill; the minister leaves to present the idea to the Russian president. With the ICBM nearing Chicago, the President confirms his nuclear command authority with Brady through the biscuit, who advises him to consult with his nuclear aide, Lt Cdr. Robert Reeves, regarding retaliation options.
A House Filled with Dynamite
The same morning, Reeves accompanies the President to a basketball event while Baker starts work at the Pentagon. Both are informed of the unfolding crisis; the President is evacuated by the Secret Service, while Baker unsuccessfully attempts to evacuate his estranged daughter from Chicago. The President is uncertain of Baerington's idea of non-retaliation, considering it surrender, but cannot bring himself to retaliate as suggested by Brady.
The President learns of the GBI's failure to intercept and is airlifted by Marine One to an undisclosed location. Airborne, he confirms his nuclear authority with Brady, confers with Reeves regarding strike options, and is informed of Baerington's conversation with the Russian foreign minister. He informs the First Lady, who is in Kenya, of the upcoming disaster. While being evacuated, Baker instead commits suicide by jumping from the rooftop helipad.
The President discusses with Reeves the precarity of nuclear proliferation, comparing it to living in "a house of dynamite". He is divided between Baerington's advice against retaliation and Brady's advice supporting it. Emphasizing the latter option, Reeves presents the President with two major retaliation options from the OPLAN; the President's final decision is not shown.
Aftermath
Rogers and Park are both seen entering the Raven Rock Mountain Complex. Gonzalez is seen kneeling outside Fort Greely. During the credits, multiple muffled large explosions are heard.
Production
In May 2024, it was announced that Kathryn Bigelow would be directing a thriller film for Netflix, her first feature film since Detroit (2017). [3] In June, Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Gabriel Basso, Jared Harris, and Greta Lee joined the cast. [4] [5] [6] In August, Tracy Letts and Moses Ingram joined. [7] In September, Anthony Ramos, Brian Tee, Jonah Hauer-King, Kyle Allen, Francesca Carpanini, Abubakr Ali, Malachi Beasley, Aminah Nieves, and Jason Clarke joined the cast of the film. [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] In October, Gbenga Akinnagbe joined the cast. [13] On October 24, it was reported that filming had begun in Trenton, New Jersey. [14] In early December, it was reported that the film was in post-production. [15]
Reception
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 75% of 251 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "Playing out a nightmare scenario with nerve-wracking plausibility, Kathryn Bigelow's masterfully-constructed A House of Dynamite is an urgent thriller that's as distressing as it is riveting." [19] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 75 out of 100, based on 51 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [20]
Writing for RogerEbert.com , critic Glenn Kenny gave the film four out of four stars, writing that the film is a "tense, precise, extremely sobering thriller" and that Elba's role within it showcased the range of his acting abilities. [21] Pete Hammond for Deadline Hollywood wrote that the film "might not fall into the horror movie genre, but it might as well because it is more frightening than any of them." [22]
Technical criticism
The film has drawn criticism from the U.S. Department of Defense and the subordinate agency responsible for the U.S. missile defense system, the Missile Defense Agency [23] , for misstating the reliability of the Ground Based Interceptor (GBI) system, which has an officially recorded success rate of 100% interception, versus 61% depicted in the film. [24] Screenwriter Noah Oppenheim responded by saying that the 100% rate quoted was only for certain recent tests, while the overall success rate for the 20 tests conducted since the system was introduced in 1999, backed up by publicly available data, is 57%, slightly lower than that portrayed in the film. [25]
On the other hand, Ted Postol of MIT, a long time critic of the Missile Defense Agency, praised the film's accuracy and stated the 61% claim was artificially high. In a presentation with retired US Army officer Daniel Davis, Postol broke down how the 61% was calculated and claimed the entire missile defense program is fraudulent. [26] Postol had warned former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta in 2000 not to deploy the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system then in development, as its success claims may have been based in contractor fraud. [27] [28]
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