NYFF Review: Kathryn Bigelow Will Leave You Breathless, Shaken, and Terrified with the Stunning Nightmare Scenario ‘A House of Dynamite’

Given how much we rely on just assuming/hoping that the people in charge of the government know what to do in a crisis, the central conceit of A House of Dynamite is as unsettling as it gets. Watching what we’re presented with as competent and hard working officials struggling to make sense of a potential doomsday scenario should leave you absolutely shaken, especially now. Just the mere idea of this film works wonders, though in the impeccable hands of Kathryn Bigelow, the movie is flawlessly made. For a little under two hours, she doesn’t let you breathe. When the credits rolled, I was barely able to exhale and was drenched in sweat. This may well be her best flick. Either way, it’s easily one of the best works of the 63rd New York Film Festival and among the crowning achievements of 2025 overall. It’s absolutely riveting.

A House of Dynamite is one of the most terrifying and upsetting film experiences that I’ve had in some time. Stripping away almost anything that would be cinematic dramatization, if not for the well known faces populating the movie, you could be mistaken for thinking you’re watching the scariest documentary ever made. The “what if?” scenario depicted here should give anyone pause, but seeing how we are and aren’t prepared for this potential situation will keep you up at night. Plus, and this is not nothing, it’s just as riveting a cinematic experience as you can have. You might need a drink afterwards, but you’ll also know you’ve seen something special. For many, it will prove impossible to shake.

A very short set up introduces us to the day where the United States is about to be tested like never before. What follows is the twenty minute period in which a rogue nuclear missile is caught on radar headed to a major American city. Having evaded initial depiction, intelligence agencies are unable to pinpoint where the ICBM originated from. The first section shows us the 49th Missile Defense Battalion in Fort Greely, Alaska, where Major Daniel Gonzalez (Anthony Ramos) is responsible on the base for detecting incoming threats and destroying them with a type of interceptor missile. We then meet Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson), who’s on duty in the Situation Room at The White House. Working with SCPO William Davis (Malachi Beasley) and under Admiral Mark Miller (Jason Clarke), once the missile is discovered, they have to figure out what they know and don’t know. Setting up a call with others, including General Anthony Brady (Tracy Letts) and Defense Secretary Reid Baker (Jared Harris), who has a daughter (Kaitlyn Dever) in the city that’s potentially about to be vaporized. As the clock ticks, decisions need to be made, especially if the interceptor missiles fail. This continues in the second section, which gives Deputy National Security Advisor Jake Baerington (Gabriel Basso) a major focus. He has a pregnant wife working at the Pentagon, while FEMA official Cathy Rogers (Moses Ingram) is getting alerts suggesting that time is of the essence to get people out of the city.

In the final section, we focus on the President (Idris Elba), who earlier in the day is planning to attend a WNBA clinic and talk to the First Lady (Renée Elise Goldsberry), who’s in Kenya on a goodwill mission. When he’s rushed out of the clinic by the Secret Service and added to the call, he only has a matter of minutes to decide what to do. As Jake attempts to find solutions that don’t involve nuclear war, General Brady lays out the risks of doing nothing. With Secretary Baker going MIA, his closest advisor becomes Lieutenant Commander Robert Reeves (Jonah Hauer-King), who has the launch codes and lays out his retaliatory options. Through it all, the clock ticks, with the worst possibilities quickly becoming probabilities.

The ensemble is flawless, without a weak link. Best in show are Gabriel Basso, Idris Elba, and Rebecca Ferguson, but they’re hardly the only ones. They get more of a showcase than others, but even someone like Kaitlyn Dever, who is essentially a cameo, makes her moment count. Basso especially makes the pleas many of us would, with Elba proving to be a very relatable POTUS, while Ferguson mixes utter competency with a concern about her young son. Folks like Malachi Beasley, Jason Clarke, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Moses Ingram, and Anthony Ramos have less opportunities to shine than Jared Harris, Jonah Hauer-King, and Tracy Letts, but no one does anything less than incredibly fine work. The large cast also includes Kyle Allen, Willa Fitzgerald, Greta Lee, Brittany O’Grady, Brian Tee, and many more. Again, there isn’t a weak link in the lot.

Director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Noah Oppenheim have a razor sharp focus here, absolutely mesmerizing you from the jump. For just shy of two hours, they never let up, no matter where the camera is pointed. Bigelow has impeccable cinematography once again from Barry Ackroyd, getting up close and personal with these characters, alongside spectacular editing from Kirk Baxter that has the momentum never let up, while the score from Volker Bertelmann is as kinetic as it is effective at unsettling you. Few movies can sustain this for more than a few minutes, let alone nearly 120.

This should be a huge priority for Netflix, as A House of Dynamite deserves to be nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (for Bigelow), Best Original Screenplay (for Oppenheim), Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Score. The Academy has gone for difficult subject matter in the padt when the filmmaking is this good, a la United 93, so this should be no exception. Given a chance, Oscar will almost have no choice but to take notice. They’ll be missing out if they don’t, that’s for sure.

A House of Dynamite blew me away and left me incredibly shaken. Impeccable filmmaking mixes with unsettling subject matter to form something you will not be able to shake. It’s been too long since we’ve had Bigelow on our screens, so while the wait has been substantial, given the quality here, this is well worth the wait. Few movies this year have rocked me like this one. Simply put…wow.

SCORE: ★★★★