Overview

• The thriller compresses an incoming ICBM’s roughly 18‑minute flight into three overlapping vantage points covering Alaska missile defense, STRATCOM deliberations and the White House decision chain.
• Reviewers widely commend the film’s nerve‑shredding realism, precision editing and handheld immediacy, while several criticize the repetitive three‑part structure and an ambiguous payoff.
• Bigelow and writer‑producer Noah Oppenheim researched procedures with current and former U.S. officials, with on‑set guidance from Lt. Gen. Daniel Karbler to ground the procedural detail.
• The film underscores the difficulty of interception — described as “hitting a bullet with a bullet” — and nods to global stockpiles and human fallibility in nuclear decision‑making.
• Rebecca Ferguson and Idris Elba lead an ensemble that includes Jared Harris, Tracy Letts and Anthony Ramos; the movie opens in select theaters Oct. 10 and streams on Netflix Oct. 24, with the filmmakers positioning it as a nonpartisan warning about proliferation.