Taut nuclear catastrophe drama

What will happen to a nation's highest decision-makers when they can see a nuclear bomb headed toward them? Kathryn Bigelow, the Oscar-winning filmmaker who gave us The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, combines procedural precision with real-time urgency to create a nerve-wracking experience.

- Archita Kashyap

A House of Dynamite is about an 18-minute window, replayed and reenacted from the perspectives of its key characters, where decisions with catastrophic consequences must be made. An unauthorized launch of a nuclear weapon from the Pacific is heading to Chicago. Millions will die as America's top military and government personnel scramble to deal with impending doomsday and diffuse the weapon. As Bigelow lays bare the processes that reveal the uncertainty of managing a possible nuclear strike, one is reminded of the razor'sedge tension of her previous films, The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. Built on a taut, unrelenting screenplay by Noah Oppenheim, the film thrives on uncertainty. It highlights the impossible choices faced by the U.S. president and the fallibility of the world's most advanced military when confronted with total annihilation. As each passing minute demands urgency, the film recounts this phase from different points of view, reaffirming the vulnerability of human beings in the face of nuclear war.