November 7, 2025

Kathryn Bigelow is a master of film direction and her new film, “House of Dynamite,” is a masterpiece. Elizabeth and I thought every element of the movie was borderline perfection — cast, plot, pace, tone, shot selection, even the music. Some critics have complained about the ambiguous ending, but I can’t imagine a more fitting exit or a more artistically plausible narrative summation.

A rough outline of the story: The U.S. is forced to figure out a way to defend against a first-strike nuclear missile scheduled to blow up Chicago in 20 minutes. The POV switches between different principals involved in the chaos: the generals tasked with risk assessment; foreign policy advisors trying to determine which country, or how many countries, launched the attack (and why); FEMA working to figure out post-strike disaster relief; the technicians who must ascertain the best retaliatory strike while there’s still enough time to launch a strike; the soldiers in the silos who deploy the missiles; and the President of the U.S. who must make the final determination on everything.

“House of Dynamite” is a brilliant, taut action thriller without annoying plot twists, tricks or gimmicks. These are just trained government workers caught in an extraordinary nightmare scenario where no amount of training seems sufficient. The lingering question: What happens when mutually assured annihilation becomes ineffective as a deterrent against existentially desperate foreign nuclear powers?