‘A House of Dynamite’ (2025) Netflix Movie Review - Too Much in 19 Minutes

Right from the start of the movie, you can feel a sense of hurry in people. Then comes into the picture Captain Olivia Walker. She is an experienced officer in the White House situation room. Through scenes and plot, we can see that she is good at her job. All is fine until the team realizes that there is a missile aimed at the United States of America, the origin of which is unknown. Now the entire team must try their best to negate the missile before it disrupts everything. All the generals and higher officials are a part of the program. But the question is: will the team succeed with only 19 minutes left in their hands? Can their global allies be of any help in averting the potential disaster?

One of the reasons why this plot stands out is that those 19 minutes are not stretched far out. And technically, that 19 minutes is the full damn movie that we get to see. There is a lot of tension in the plot, and we see that right from the start. It creates worry, but that is what the makers want us to see. It is the kind of heart racing that we see in war movies or when a time bomb is ticking away.

Yes, I will admit that right at the start, it is a bit difficult to understand what exactly is going on because of the chaos. Maybe that’s what the makers wanted to show us. And I will give it; they did succeed.

For sure, without a doubt, the star of the plot is Rebecca Ferguson. Her role as Captain Olivia is the showstopper. The way she moves around, her dialogue delivery, etc., just captivates us to watch more and more of her. Along with her, Idris Elba does a great job too as a high-ranking military official. Together, they are the absolute start of the show. Even the rest of the cast adds the layers of emotions needed in the plot.

However, the issue is with the complexity of the pot. While it is well understood that such a plot can be difficult to understand at once, the makers ended up making it a bit too complicated for us to get a grasp of what is happening. It is like too much is happening for our brains to make out what is to be focused on.

Coming to the pacing, it is okayish. Somewhere it goes fast, the rest of the time it becomes a bit slow. So while there are scenes that are crucial to the plot and have been given equal importance, the other scenes have not been given much of the screen space as desired.

Other than that, it’s a good watch. The ending might leave some of us unsatisfied and unhappy, which is why you should watch it all the way. Maybe the plot could have been much better, given the 19-minute issue they faced. But when it comes to acting, that is the saving grace for us to watch this movie at least once.

Final Score- [6/10]
Reviewed by - Neerja Ch
Follow @NeerjaCH on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times