Kathryn Bigelow returns to feature filmmaking eight years after Detroit with A House of Dynamite, a nuclear crisis thriller that premiered at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on September 2, 2025, where it received an 11-minute standing ovation. The film, which began streaming globally on Netflix on October 24, 2025 after a limited theatrical release, examines 18 minutes of government response when an unattributed ICBM launches toward Chicago. Written by Noah Oppenheim, the screenplay structures the same timeframe across three chapters, each showing the crisis from different command centers—Fort Greely’s 59th Missile Defense Battalion, the White House Situation Room, United States Strategic Command, and the Presidential Emergency Operations Center.
Anatomy of a Nuclear Crisis
How Bigelow’s film dissects 18 minutes of decision-making across three government perspectives when an intercontinental ballistic missile of unknown origin targets the continental United States
The film opens with text stating that the post-Cold War consensus on nuclear de-escalation “is now over.” Major Daniel Gonzalez (Anthony Ramos) at Fort Greely, Alaska detects what initially appears to be a test launch. When radar analysis confirms the missile’s inclination flattening—indicating a suborbital trajectory toward the continental United States—the Strategic Command apparatus mobilizes. Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson) coordinates response protocols from the White House Situation Room as DEFCON levels escalate from 4 to 2. The 59th Battalion launches two Ground-Based Interceptors; the first fails to deploy properly, the second’s Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle misses its target. With Chicago confirmed as the impact point and 18 minutes on the clock, attribution becomes the central crisis.
Three Chapters, One Timeline
Bigelow structures A House of Dynamite as a triptych—the same 18-minute crisis viewed through escalating command levels. Each chapter ends on the same cliffhanger, building a complete picture of how fragmented intelligence and protocol limitations shape nuclear decision-making.
The 18-Minute Window
From initial detection to potential impact in Chicago, the film compresses decision-making into real-time urgency. Start the simulation to visualize how rapidly the crisis unfolds.
Critical Moments in the Crisis
Five pivotal sequences define the narrative’s escalating tension, each raising questions about protocol, technology, and human judgment under pressure.
The Nuclear Response Framework
The President confronts four response categories with incomplete attribution data. Select each option to examine the strategic considerations Bigelow presents through dialogue and tension.
SITUATION: Unattributed ICBM confirmed inbound to Chicago. Both GBI attempts failed. Launch origin uncertain—possibilities include North Korea, Russia, China, non-state actor, or submarine captain acting independently. 18 minutes elapsed. What response authorizes the President?
The 50% Problem
Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd shot the ensemble cast across multiple sets simultaneously—White House Situation Room, STRATCOM operations center, Fort Greely command post—with actors performing on live video feeds to maintain authenticity. Production designer Jeremy Hindle built fully functional command environments where performers remained attentive for weeks as cameras captured real-time conference calls. Editor Kirk Baxter structured the three-chapter format to build cumulative tension despite narrative repetition, a technique that Euronews Culture noted creates initial “nerve-shredding” impact before yielding “diminishing returns” in subsequent chapters.
The Decision-Making Ensemble
Bigelow assembled performers across government hierarchy levels—from battalion commanders to situation room officers to cabinet members to POTUS—creating what screenwriter Noah Oppenheim describes as a portrait of people called to make “impossible decisions in the most extreme circumstances imaginable.”
Reception & Context
A House of Dynamite structures its examination of nuclear crisis response across 108 minutes, with each of three chapters covering the same 18-minute window from escalating command perspectives. The film’s premise—an unattributed ICBM targeting Chicago with failed interceptor attempts—places attribution uncertainty at the center of retaliation debates. Bigelow’s production approach involved simultaneous filming across multiple command-center sets with live video connections between performers, maintaining technical authenticity for conference-call sequences that define modern crisis coordination. The ensemble cast, led by Elba, Ferguson, Harris, and Letts, portrays government officials confronting protocol limitations when decision timeframes compress and intelligence remains incomplete. Critical reception acknowledged the film’s initial tension while noting structural challenges in sustaining momentum across repeated timelines. The work joined Netflix’s fall 2025 slate after limited theatrical distribution and festival screening at Venice.
