Kathryn Bigelow hasn’t directed a feature film since 2017’s “Detroit,” an eight-year hiatus during which our increasingly unstable world began to bear an uncomfortable resemblance to her geopolitical thrillers. Fortunately, fans of her distinct brand of filmmaking will have another white knuckler to stress over when “A House of Dynamite” premieres this fall.
Bigelow’s new film, which has been branded as one of Netflix’s strongest Oscar contenders of the season, follows a President of the United States (Idris Elba) as he meets with advisors to determine the “best” course of action in the face of a deadly nuclear missile strike.
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“A House of Dynamite” is written by Noah Oppenheim, who enjoyed a lengthy TV career as a producer for and eventual president of NBC News before co-creating “Zero Day” and writing films like “Jackie” and “The Maze Runner.” In addition to Elba, the film stars Rebecca Ferguson, Gabriel Basso, Jared Harris, Tracy Letts, Anthony Ramos, Moses Ingram, Jonah Hauer-King, with Greta Lee, and Jason Clarke.
“A House of Dynamite” premiered at the 2025 Venice International Film Festival, where critics praised the film for its unapologetic bleakness and willingness to portray the ultimate geopolitical worst-case-scenario with thorough research and elite technical filmmaking.
“Hardly mere agitprop due to the stylistic intensity of its filmmaking, this gun-to-your-head engrossing movie — with its eardrum-piercing and death-rattling sound design and a score by Volker Bertelmann so oppressive it could swallow you whole — also wants to shake you out of your slumber with a cataclysmic whisper of an ending,” IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio wrote in his review. “We used to duck under our desks to rehearse surviving a nuclear annihilation; now, we only duck our heads in the sand we keep shoveling over ourselves. You can’t stop what’s coming, and what’s coming is worse than you thought.”
During her Venice press conference, Bigelow explained that her eight years away from filmmaking was partially due to a lack of material that piqued her interest the way “A House of Dynamite” did.
“I have to be passionate about a subject matter,” Bigelow said. “For me, I don’t know if I’m really a director or not, but I’m absolutely committed to a subject and a story. And then I feel like I can do anything, but I have to really believe in whatever the material is.”
“A House of Dynamite” opens in select theaters on October 10 before streaming on Netflix on October 24. Watch the teaser below.
