{"id":62319,"date":"2025-10-08T23:14:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T23:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/62319\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T23:14:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T23:14:08","slug":"kathryn-bigelows-netflix-apocalyptic-thriller-fizzles-out-long-before-it-explodes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/62319\/","title":{"rendered":"Kathryn Bigelow\u2019s Netflix Apocalyptic Thriller Fizzles Out Long Before It Explodes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kathryn Bigelow<\/a> has never been a director to shy away from tension, especially in recent years, with films like her Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty<\/a>, and Detroit. The ticking clock and rising uncertainty have been central to her work over the last two decades, all in films that address the politics of the time. In doing this, Bigelow\u2019s films have felt urgent and powerful, an anxious response to our present times.<\/p>\n

Bigelow\u2019s first film in eight years, A House of Dynamite<\/a>, seems right in her wheelhouse, and while Mark Boal wrote her last three films, her latest comes from Noah Oppenheim \u2014 writer of Jackie<\/a> and The Maze Runner. A House of Dynamite centers around the type of tension Bigelow has become known for, as we watch a missile heading towards America without knowing who sent it. But while A House of Dynamite begins as an edge-of-your-seat thriller, as the film progresses, and we start to see the design and structure of what this film is, Bigelow\u2019s latest loses its pressure and feels more like an unusually-plotted experiment than a captivating drama that never hits the heights of Bigelow\u2019s finest works.<\/p>\n

What Is ‘A House of Dynamite’ About?<\/p>\n

As A House of Dynamite begins, we follow Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson<\/a>), who works out of the White House, monitoring threats. A military base in Alaska has noted what seems to be a missile on the way to the United States, and Walker and her team have to figure out how to handle this oncoming threat from an unknown sender. For the first third of A House of Dynamite, we stay in the room with Captain Walker, as she talks with other teams and coworkers, trying to figure out how to proceed with a missile that could kill millions of Americans. It\u2019s a truly nail-biting scenario that Bigelow and Oppenheim present, and it\u2019s even more unnerving once we see just how easily something like this could happen and how powerless we would be with so little time to respond.<\/p>\n

But then, A House of Dynamite takes a turn. We then follow the event through the eyes of Deputy National Security Advisor Jake Baerington (Gabriel Basso), who is new to his position and seems to be the only one willing to bring some clarity to the president on how to proceed. A House of Dynamite will later shift yet again, this time following the President of the United States, played by Idris Elba<\/a>. Each time one of these shifts happens, we see different angles of what such an attack would be like, as we piece together what other characters have been doing during this time. Certain characters make their way through all three segments, such as General Anthony Brody (Tracy Letts), who wants the president to retaliate before the country becomes a sitting duck, as well as Secretary of Defense Reid Baker (Jared Harris<\/a>), who only appears in video calls at first, but then becomes a major player in the final act.<\/p>\n

‘A House of Dynamite’s Structure Is Impressive, but Flawed<\/p>\n

As a narrative construct, A House of Dynamite is a fascinating way to examine this situation through several different perspectives. Essentially, seeing the same story three different ways gives us more information each time and fleshes out the details surrounding this haunting moment. It\u2019s a technical marvel for editor Kirk Baxter, who has previously won Oscars for his work on The Social Network<\/a> and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, as he interweaves all of these characters and their stories into one larger narrative. By the time we see all the pieces come together in the final telling, it\u2019s truly impressive how all these elements work as one.<\/p>\n

However, in trying this experiment out, A House of Dynamite sacrifices a compelling story for its unusual formation. The first time we watch this story play out with Ferguson\u2019s Captain Walker, it\u2019s some of the most intense filmmaking put in theaters this year. But once the story starts again, then yet again, and you start to predict where this story is going, A House of Dynamite\u2019s concept begins to wear thin, with each new variation watering down its impact. By the time you realize Bigelow\u2019s film isn\u2019t going to present any sort of third-act or answer to its biggest questions, A House of Dynamite starts to drag more than this story seemed it would in that first version of the story.<\/p>\n

While it is remarkable how A House of Dynamite folds its stories into itself, as we learn more details about what\u2019s going on, it also loses steam significantly in each new version. Things that seemed intense and heart-pounding at first become rote and, at times, even laughable. One discussion in which characters say the line, \u201cThis is insanity!\u201d followed by, \u201cNo, sir, this is reality,\u201d is questionable the first time, and simply ridiculous on the second. Adding to the frustration is the score by Volker Bertelmann<\/a>, composer for Conclave and All Quiet on the Western Front<\/a>. Like these scores, Bertelmann reuses a few notes as a music motif to heighten the tension, but here, it only comes off as absurd the further the film goes. A House of Dynamite both impresses with how each new telling fleshes out this story even further, yet also manages to get progressively frustrating and ludicrous with each new version as well.<\/p>\n

Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson Are Both Solid in ‘A House of Dynamite’<\/p>\n

\"Rebecca
\n Rebecca Ferguson in A House of DynamiteImage via Netflix<\/p>\n

The cast is also quite good in A House of Dynamite, as they\u2019re asked to react to the most horrific moment they\u2019ll have in their lifetime. Ferguson is particularly strong here, reacting to this moment both as a concerned mother and wife who wants to keep her family safe, but also as someone in a position of power who needs to stay in control. Elba is also brilliant as the president who finds himself dealing with a situation he never thought would happen. Through both of these performances, we see the humanity of what this attack means for them as a person, but also how this will impact the world at large. Despite how well this film handles multiple characters in so many different storylines, it also means that we don\u2019t get nearly enough of some of this cast. Especially considering the way that the film is structured, we don\u2019t get much of a resolution to any of these stories, which ends up frustrating.<\/p>\n

But that frustration is part of the point, as we\u2019re put in the shoes of those trying to stop this missile from hitting. It\u2019s without a doubt a clever format in theory, but in execution, it makes for a film that doesn\u2019t feel finished. By the end of A House of Dynamite, we\u2019re not frustrated by the lack of answers or conclusion; we\u2019re left frustrated by how fragmented and incomplete the story we\u2019ve been told is. As it tries to make its format work, it quickly loses its tension and urgency, feeling more like an exercise in exploring what such an incident would realistically look like in our world (albeit with an organized and cohesive government). A House of Dynamite begins explosively, but unfortunately, it ends up fizzling out. <\/p>\n

A House of Dynamite comes to theaters on October 10, before its release on Netflix on October 24.<\/p>\n

\"01822732_poster_w780-1.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Release Date<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 3, 2025<\/p>\n

Runtime<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t113 minutes<\/p>\n

Director<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKathryn Bigelow<\/p>\n

Writers<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNoah Oppenheim<\/p>\n

Producers<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrian Bell, Greg Shapiro<\/p>\n

\tPros & Cons<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKathryn Bigelow knows how to build tension, and does so for a bit in A House of Dynamite.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIdris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson stand out in a strong ensemble cast.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe structure of A House of Dynamite is compelling, but doesn’t ultimately pay off as well as it should.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe repetitive nature of the story can be unintentionally questionable at times.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA House of Dynamite is full of first and second acts, without a compelling third act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kathryn Bigelow has never been a director to shy away from tension, especially in recent years, with films…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[146,85,46,397],"class_list":["post-62319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}