After eight years away from feature filmmaking, Kathryn Bigelow has returned in explosive fashion. Her latest thriller, A House of Dynamite, premiered
After eight years away from feature filmmaking, Kathryn Bigelow has returned in explosive fashion. Her latest thriller, A House of Dynamite, premiered at the Venice Film Festival to glowing early reviews, setting the stage for its rollout in theaters and on Netflix this fall, while Netflix has also dropped the trailer for the film. The nuclear thriller, written by Noah Oppenheim, imagines the White House scrambling to identify and respond to an unattributed missile launch against the United States. With Bigelow behind the camera, critics are calling it a terrifyingly plausible nightmare scenario.
A House of Dynamite drops audiences into a ticking-clock procedural that unfolds almost in real time. As government officials race against the clock, allegiances fray and panic sets in, building to a crescendo that has already been described as unbearably tense. The cast is stacked with talent: Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Gabriel Basso, Jared Harris, Tracy Letts, Anthony Ramos, Moses Ingram, Jonah Hauer-King, with Greta Lee and Jason Clarke. Kaitlyn Dever — fresh off her acclaimed role in The Last of Us Season 2 — also features, alongside a supporting ensemble including Renée Elise Goldsberry, Kyle Allen, Brittany O’Grady, Brian Tee, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Willa Fitzgerald, and Malachi Beasley.
The production reunited Bigelow with longtime collaborators: cinematographer Barry Ackroyd, production designer Jeremy Hindle, editor Kirk Baxter, composer Volker Bertelmann, and sound designer Paul N. J. Ottosson.
Bigelow and Oppenheim produced alongside Greg Shapiro, with Brian Bell and Sarah Bremner serving as executive producers.
Is ‘A House of Dynamite’ Any Good?
If Venice buzz is any indication, Bigelow hasn’t lost her edge. Deadline wrote:
“[Kathryn Bigelow] hasn’t lost her mojo if this nail-biting thriller is any indication. Let’s just hope the world takes notice because this explosive story is scary in many ways, but mostly because it is so completely plausible in the powder keg of a planet we currently exist in.”
The Guardian awarded the film 5/5 stars, calling it “a terrifying, white-knuckle comeback” and “an immaculately constructed nightmare procedural.”
GQ also praised the movie, describing it as “brilliantly constructed and gripping as hell”, but wasn’t sold on its Oscar chances: “The film may prove too limited emotionally for Oscars voters – though it is so brilliantly stitched together by editor Kirk Baxter that you struggle to imagine anything else taking home that particular award. But as Netflix movies go, this is pretty much as good as it gets – the last thing you’ll do during this two-hour block is look at your phone. And that is a step in the right direction, at least.”
The film opens October 3 in the UK, October 10 in select theaters worldwide, and finally hits Netflix on October 24.
A House of Dynamite
Release Date
October 24, 2025
Runtime
112 minutes
Writers
Noah Oppenheim
Producers
Brian Bell, Greg Shapiro
COMMENTS