Fact vs. Fiction: A House of Dynamite — What Kathryn Bigelow’s Nuclear War Thriller Gets Right and Wrong

Here is the deal with Kathryn Bigelow's new thriller: it is not based on a true story, but it sure acts like it is. 'A House of Dynamite' plays the military and White House crisis machinery straight, and for the most part, it nails the vibe.

So what is this thing about?

The setup is clean and nasty: a missile is headed for Chicago, the White House has 18 minutes to figure it out, and everyone from soldiers in Alaska to the Situation Room is suddenly very awake. Bigelow, who built her rep with 'The Hurt Locker' and 'Zero Dark Thirty,' leans hard into process and language here. It is brisk, technical, and surprisingly human.

Real-world help, by design

Netflix's TUDUM says retired U.S. Army lieutenant general Daniel Karbler worked with the film to keep it honest. His praise was not subtle:

The movie does such a good job of capturing a piece that we never really capture when we are running through these exercises — being able to see the human reaction, which we do not practice... What the movie really drives home, in addition to the authenticity about the process and all that, is just the human element and how different folks are affected, whether it is those young soldiers at Fort Greely to the STRATCOM staff all the way up to the President of the United States.

That tracks with what Bigelow does best: process on one side, nerves and fallout on the other.

But the Pentagon flagged one big miss

For all the kudos, there is one line the Department of Defense did not let slide. At one point, Jared Harris's character, Reid Baker, claims missile defenses cost $50 billion and only have a 50% chance to intercept. Bloomberg reports the Pentagon pushed back, saying that modern interceptors:

have displayed a 100% accuracy rate in testing for more than a decade.

Is that a plot-stakes choice? Almost definitely. Does it ding the film's overall commitment to accuracy? Not enough to derail it. The military jargon, the decision trees, the way people fray under pressure — that stuff lands.

The bottom line

It is fiction. It feels uncomfortably plausible. And aside from one eyebrow-raising stat, it is impressively buttoned-up for a nail-biter about an inbound warhead.

• Title: A House of Dynamite
• Director: Kathryn Bigelow
• Premise: White House scrambles as a missile races toward Chicago; 18 minutes to impact
• Military adviser: Lt. Gen. Daniel Karbler (per Netflix's TUDUM)
• Pentagon note: Disputed the film's '50% chance' line via Bloomberg, citing '100% accuracy' for modern interceptors in testing over more than a decade
• Cast: Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Anthony Ramos, Jared Harris (as Reid Baker)
• Year: 2025
• IMDb: 6.6/10
• Rotten Tomatoes: 79%
• Production: First Light
• Streaming: Netflix (USA)