What would happen if nuclear war broke out? It’s a terrifying hypothetical that has been explored by Hollywood for decades, since the threat of nuclear apocalypse became a dreadful prospect. Much of the cinematic focus has been on the race to prevent it, or on the apocalyptic aftermath, or on the rich metaphors that it inspires. But few movies have been able to capture what it’s like to be on the cusp of nuclear armageddon with the same level of nerve-shredding intensity as Kathryn Bigelow’s tense new thriller, A House of Dynamite.
Written by Noah Oppenheim, Bigelow’s first feature in eight years is as provocative and unpredictable as you’d expect from the Oscar-winning director of The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. Told in an anthological, Rashomon-style structure, A House of Dynamite follows several groups of low and high-ranking officials on the day that the U.S. government identifies an unidentified Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) heading straight for the continental United States. It begins with a military base in Alaska, which quickly alerts the White House Situation Room, headed by Admiral Mark Miller (Jason Clarke) and Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson). All the big guns — including Secretary of Defense Reid Miller (Jared Harris), STRATCOM General Anthony Brody (Tracy Letts) — are gathered in a Zoom where they breathlessly watch the trajectory of the missile get closer to Chicago. The only person who can’t be found immediately is the President (Idris Elba), who joins with 18 minutes to spare before the missile makes landfall, and is faced with a terrible decision: to retaliate, or not to retaliate.
