Here's what experts say 'A House of Dynamite' gets wrong (and right) about nuclear war

Here's what experts say 'A House of Dynamite' gets wrong (and right) about nuclear war

Geoff Brumfiel

October 24, 2025 / 2:01 am

This essay contains spoilers for the film A House of Dynamite .

In the opening minutes of Kathryn Bigalow's latest film, A House of Dynamite , the unthinkable happens — a single nuclear warhead is lobbed from somewhere in the Pacific towards the U.S. mainland. America's leadership has less than half an hour to decide whether to order a massive nuclear counterstrike.

What follows is a story told from the perspective of the politicians, generals, and bureaucrats in charge of the nation's nuclear war machine. It unfolds in near real time, and provides an unflinching look at the decisions that would need to be made if such a strike ever occurred.

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