Idris Elba And Rebecca Ferguson Race Against Time In A House Of Dynamite
Actors Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson star in a new thriller directed by Kathryn Bigelow: A House of Dynamite, which sees the award-winning director return with a new film that’s as tense and nerve-racking as her past works like The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty.
Elba plays the President of the United States, and Ferguson, an officer at the White House. Told from multiple perspectives, it follows the rapid response of the US government after an unknown missile is fired at a major American city, and the efforts to avert war. It’s received plenty of positive buzz from critics- here’s all you need to know:
What is A House of Dynamite about?
A House of Dynamite is a film in which the events take place over only around 20 minutes, but is told from several angles of the US government. It’s a seemingly normal day in Washington, DC, when, out of the blue, a missile launch is detected by the US military. Through radar and quick analysis, it’s believed that the missile is nuclear- but who exactly fired it remains undetermined, and it’s now headed to Chicago. There’s an instant scramble to respond, as all hands go on deck to avert imminent disaster. One of those alerted is a White House Situation Room official, Olivia Walker (played by Ferguson), who must help coordinate the response.
The President himself (played by Elba) is informed, and quickly assembles his advisors to form a response. The options the leader has at his disposal are all difficult, and there’s little time to choose a course of action. The military can shoot the missile down, provided they can hit the target- but the debris could hit innocents. Whoever sent the missile in the first place could also respond, starting a major conflict. But millions live in Chicago, so the missile must be stopped.
There are plenty of other important players in the fore as well: Chernobyl star Jared Harris plays the Secretary of Defence, whose job it is to oversee how the military responds. Oppenheimer’s Jason Clarke plays another advisor to the president in the Situation Room, while Past Lives star Greta Lee is an NSA officer.
Who else stars, and when does it release?
The rest of the impressive cast list includes Jonah Hauer-King (Little Women), Anthony Ramos (Twisters), Willa Fitzgerald (The Fall of the House of Usher), Gabriel Basso (The Night Manager) and Kaitlyn Dever (The Last of Us). A House of Dynamite is out now on Netflix.
