Overview

• The film compresses an unattributed intercontinental missile’s roughly 18‑minute path toward Chicago into three overlapping real-time viewpoints.
• Director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Noah Oppenheim drew on briefings from current and former White House, Pentagon and intelligence officials, with Lt.-Gen. Daniel Karbler serving as on-set technical adviser.
• Coverage stresses the difficulty of interception—likened to a bullet hitting a bullet—and the system’s dependence on fallible human operators and a president only lightly trained on nuclear procedure.
• Critics call the thriller gripping and hyper-realistic, noting Bigelow’s multi-camera, documentary-like approach, while citing a sprawling ensemble and some uneven performances.
• A House of Dynamite opens in select theaters Oct. 10 and begins streaming on Netflix Oct. 24.