A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE (NETFLIX) (2025)

SYNOPSIS: From Academy Award winning director Kathryn Bigelow comes A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE. When a single, unattributed missile is launched at the United States, a race begins to determine who is responsible and how to respond.

MOVIE REVIEW:

Before you feel cheated or confused, A House of Dynamite employs what’s known as “The Rashomon Principle” meaning the same event is retold from multiple perspectives. It’s a clever storytelling device in theory, but here, it’s more of a gimmick than a strength.

Written by Noah Oppenheim (Jackie, The Maze Runner), the story is talky but painfully basic. A group of high-ranking U.S. government officials including the President (Idris Elba) must decide how to respond to a nuclear missile heading straight for Chicago. The assailant is unknown, despite all the sophisticated military tech at their disposal. Russia and China deny involvement. Could it be North Korea? Iran? No one knows not even Oppenheim or director Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty).

Let’s not pretend A House of Dynamite is a gripping political thriller. It’s one of the worst in recent memory. When you assemble a star-studded cast — Elba (who’s on screen for less than 20 minutes), Rebecca Ferguson (who disappears after the first act), Jared Harris, Jason Clarke and Anthony Ramos (all reduced to cameos) — you’re not setting up a powerhouse ensemble but a recipe for confusion and disappointment.

Adding to the frustration, the movie is buried under an avalanche of acronyms — WHSR, ICBM, STRATCOM and more. The dialogue feels like military alphabet soup, constantly tossed around between the Secretary of Defense Reid Baker (Harris), General Anthony Brady (Tracy Letts), and Deputy National Security Advisor Jake Baerington (Gabriel Basso). Their titles may sound impressive but the endless shouting and jargon-heavy exchanges are anything but.

With too many characters and too much technical chatter, there’s little room for tension or emotional engagement. Watching a room full of officials argue about protocol while a missile counts down to impact should be thrilling — here, it’s just numbing.

Kathryn Bigelow has proven herself a master of the war and political thriller genres, but A House of Dynamite feels like a shallow imitation of her earlier triumphs. It builds toward nothing and ends with even less. All in all, it’s a hollow, chaotic attempt at political urgency and basically a masterclass in nothingness.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee