A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE

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A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE

R

Oct 2025

1h 52m

Mystery & Thriller

Drama

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Popcornmeter

75%

Tomatometer

250 Reviews

77%

Popcornmeter

100+ Verified Ratings

From Academy Award® winning director Kathryn Bigelow. When a single, unattributed missile is launched at the United States, a race begins to determine who is responsible and how to respond.

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Critics Consensus

Playing out a nightmare scenario with nerve-wracking plausibility, Kathryn Bigelow's masterfully-constructed A House of Dynamite is an urgent thriller that's as distressing as it is riveting.

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Audience Says

A taut, unconventional thriller, A House of Dynamite sharply dissects the political and human stakes of a missile crisis with chilling credibility.

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Dwight Brown

DwightBrownInk.com

4d

4/4

By film's end you'll need a stiff drink, some strong weed or a calming walk around the block. That's the mark of a riveting thriller.

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Jesse Hassenger

AV Club

Nov 14

C+

Despite Bigelow’s by now well-practiced way with control-room immediacy and the material’s avoidance of easy-relief endings, there’s still a lingering sense of Hollywood in the air.

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Tim Cogshell

FilmWeek (LAist)

Nov 11

I just love that amount of detail... This is the way this works.

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Pat Bulfamante

The MontyVerse (YouTube)

1d

2/5

There’s power in restraint, and A House of Dynamite attempts to prove it, but it’s just a lot of smoke, not enough fire. A film about making decisions that ultimately fails to make one.

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Marlon Wallace

The M Report (WBOC.com)

Nov 24

If it's a debate, the film should have made it more of a debate. Elba's character is more stumbling through the third and final section. It's okay to stumble but Elba's talents are wasted because he doesn't even express an opinion or strong point-of-view.

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Lauren Veneziani

WBAL-TV (Baltimore)

Nov 24

4/5

Kathryn Bigelow's direction makes this film feel authentic, raw and thrilling. Rebecca Ferguson is easily a standout and the entire ensemble is fantastic.

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Meloney

Oct 28

Enjoyed this political thriller. I peeked at the reviews before seeing it, so the fact that the ending was not revealed did not bother me. I thought aspects of the plot were realistic (human error, tech errors) and the story was well told.

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David A

Oct 26

As always from Kathryn Bigelow, a tight thriller on an important subject.

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Eileen E

Oct 21

Brilliant! Complex interwoven government and military interactions responding to a missile threat that couldn’t be identified or stopped. May go again tomorrow!

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Steven

Oct 20

Great Editing! Rashomon on steroids!

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Joshua R

Oct 20

“A House of Dynamite” is a superb procedural thriller that favors observation over conventional plotting. Like Paul Greengrass’s “United 93,” it adopts a verité, process-first approach: tension comes from watching professionals confront the unimaginable and work their systems in real time. There are no traditional leads, no tidy arcs, just the relentless mechanics of response. The ensemble is excellent, the direction precise, and the overall effect chillingly credible. If you can, see it in a theater. SPOILERS BELOW * * * * * * * * * Spoiler thoughts I keep seeing, “Great film… until the end.” That misses the point. Bigelow isn’t interested in spoon-feeding you an answer; she’s dramatizing the machinery that precedes one. We don’t witness the president’s final call because the film isn’t about the ultimate outcome. It’s about people, not movie heroes, doing their jobs under maximum pressure. A definitive resolution would create false closure. Holding the outcome in suspension is the film’s power.

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Will

Oct 19

Complete waste of time and a failure of a film.

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A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE: Trailer 1

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A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE: Teaser Trailer

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Synopsis

From Academy Award® winning director Kathryn Bigelow. When a single, unattributed missile is launched at the United States, a race begins to determine who is responsible and how to respond.

Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Producer: Kathryn Bigelow, Noah Oppenheim, Greg Shapiro
Screenwriter: Noah Oppenheim
Distributor: Netflix
Production Co: Netflix, First Light Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 10, 2025, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 24, 2025
Runtime: 1h 52m

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