A House of Dynamite

Matt Roush says...

We’re deep into pre-Halloween season, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything scarier than director Kathryn Bigelow’s (The Hurt Locker) speculative real-world thriller. Reminiscent of Cold War cautionary tales like Fail Safe, this tense, terse white-knuckle movie depicts the alarms that are set off in the immediate aftermath of an unidentified nuclear missile strike headed for the continental United States. The action unfolds from several perspectives as the story resets itself multiple times, showing the initial response at an Alaskan missile-defense site, within the White House Situation Room, and ultimately showing the president (Idris Elba) mulling the fateful next step. The ending, such as it is, won’t satisfy everyone, but it’s hard to imagine the scenario won’t haunt viewers well past Halloween.

What's Worth Watching (Oct 24)