A House of Dynamite

Watched this movie on Netflix after having read about it in the paper. In the movie a single unattributed nuclear missile is launched at the US. The whole movie tells the story what happens in the 20 minutes between launch detection and impact. It is a good thriller for the first 40 minutes at least. After that the same events are repeated from a different perspective so you know what is coming. Although this structure removes the suspense after the first 40 minutes it helps to paint the complexity of the situation. I give it a 7.5, mainly because of the excellent acting performance, by for example Rebecca Ferguson and Idris Elba, and the relevance of the story. While some elements of the scenario are there just to add to the suspense, the basic premise is true : far too many countries are capable to launch a nuclear missile and once one is launched there is very little time to intercept it and to react. In the scenario of the movie with only 1 missile of unknown origin launched there is no military need for an immediate reaction as the one missile will not significantly diminish the capability of the US to launch a counterstrike after impact. But regardless of the urgency of the need to retaliate, the movie does depict quite well the moral dilemma : while you cannot let go unpunished the killing of potentially millions of civilians the only option seems to be to kill even more civilians and to risk that the situation escalates into a full scale nuclear war. To quote POTUS in the movie : ‘this is insanity’.