{"id":228359,"date":"2025-10-27T15:15:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T15:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/228359\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T15:15:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T15:15:11","slug":"a-house-of-dynamite-expert-names-one-aspect-of-film-that-is-a-success-despite-inaccuracies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/228359\/","title":{"rendered":"A House of Dynamite: Expert names one aspect of film that is a success despite inaccuracies"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A military expert has praised one aspect of the new Netflix<\/a> film A House of Dynamite, which has become a huge streaming hit, despite being criticised for inaccuracies.<\/p>\n

The political thriller, from Zero Dark Thirty director Kathryn Bigelow<\/a>, depicts a scenario where a nuclear weapon is fired at the US by an unidentified foe. <\/p>\n

From three different perspectives \u2013<\/a> first from the White House Situation Room, then from the United States Strategic Command, and finally from the President himself, the film repeatedly tracks the 20 minutes after the weapon\u2019s launch and the complex, world-changing decisions that officials might have to make in such a situation.<\/p>\n

The film, starring Idris Elba<\/a>, Rebecca Ferguson<\/a>, Jared Harris and Tracy Letts, shot to the top of the Netflix streaming charts following its addition to the platform on October 24. However, it has been criticised by viewers for its underwhelming ending <\/a>and by experts for presenting incorrect information<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, Stephen Flynn, a director of the Global Resilience Institute at America\u2019s Northeastern University, who also worked as a White House military officer under President George HW Bush, believes the film achieves its goal of scaring people about the devastating capabilities of nuclear war.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt [the film] scares the bejesus out of people, and there\u2019s good reason for doing that, because the threat of this kind of thing never goes away,\u201d he told The Telegraph<\/a>. \u201cIt should always be top of our leaders\u2019 minds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rebecca<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Rebecca Ferguson in the White House Situation Room in Kathryn Bigelow\u2019s \u2018A House of Dynamite\u2019 (Netflix)<\/p>\n

A House of Dynamite has come under criticism from the actual US government, with the Pentagon issuing a statement about it\u2019s depiction of the United States\u2019 missile defense system.<\/p>\n

At one point in the film, the defense secretary, played by Harris, complains that current missile defenses have just a 50 per cent chance of intercepting the missile despite costing $50 billion.<\/p>\n

In an internal memorandum from the Missile Defense Agency obtained by Bloomberg<\/a> and dated October 16, the agency states that while the film \u201chighlights that deterrence can fail, which reinforces the need for an active homeland missile defense system,\u201d its fictional depiction also downplays US capabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fictional interceptors in the movie miss their target and we understand this is intended to be a compelling part of the drama intended for the entertainment of the audience,\u201d but results from real-world testing \u201ctell a vastly different story,\u201d the memo reportedly states.<\/p>\n

The MDA adds that Harris\u2019s character\u2019s 50 per cent claim is based on earlier prototypes and today\u2019s interceptors \u201chave displayed a 100 per cent accuracy rate in testing for more than a decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement to Bloomberg News, the Pentagon said that it wasn\u2019t consulted for the film, which \u201cdoes not reflect the views or priorities of this administration.\u201d The system \u201cremains a critical component of our national defense strategy, ensuring the safety and security of the American people and our allies.\u201d<\/p>\n

A representative for Bigelow directed Bloomberg to her remarks on CBS\u2019s Sunday Morning, in which she confirmed she did not seek consultation from the Pentagon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt that we needed to be more independent,\u201d she explained. \u201cBut that being said, we had multiple tech advisers who have worked in the Pentagon. They were with me every day we shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Idris<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Idris Elba in Kathryn Bigelow\u2019s \u2018A House of Dynamite\u2019 (Netflix)<\/p>\n

In a four-star review for The Independent<\/a>, Geoffrey Macnab called it \u201cthe most entertaining movie about mass destruction since Dr Strangelove.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSeventeen years ago, Bigelow became the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Director for The Hurt Locker (2008). Whether or not she accomplishes a similar feat with A House of Dynamite \u2013 becoming the first woman to win two \u2013 this new feature shows that when it comes to intelligent, adrenaline-filled drama, she is still out there on her own.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-228359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}