Stephen King has reviewed A House of Dynamite, the latest thriller released on Netflix, taking a few jabs at President Donald Trump in the process. His film reviews and political commentary have become a staple of his X account, and in one of his latest posts, he’s found a way to mix the two.
The prolific author used X to express his opinion about the Netflix release of the Kathryn Bigelow nuclear war drama A House of Dynamite. The film sees the government undergo an unexpected crisis when a nuclear warhead is launched at the United States, and authorities chaotically try to solve the mystery of who’s attacking the country, and stop the warhead before it hits U.S. soil. It is a terrific and tense cinematic experience that some viewers describe as a terrifying non-horror movie.
King’s post on X reads: “A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE (Netflix): Terrifying, especially given the unprincipled, waffling nitwit now occupying the White House…or what remains of it.” It is not the first time that King has taken a dig at Donald Trump, and some of his replies to the post show how divided his followers are regarding his political stance.
A House of Dynamite was written by Noah Oppenheim and directed by Kathryn Bigelow, who is finally returning to filmmaking after 2017’s Detroit. It features a star-studded cast that includes Rebecca Ferguson, Tracy Letts, Idris Elba, Jared Harris, Anthony Ramos, Moses Ingram, Greta Lee, Jason Clarke, Willa Fitzgerald, and Kaitlyn Dever, among others.
Standouts include the editing work by Kirk Baxter, known for his work alongside David Fincher, and for his two Academy Award wins for his work in The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Volker Bertelmann, the composer behind Conclave, is in charge of the music, and you can catch a few seconds of his Oscar-winning score for All Quiet on the Western Front in the Netflix nuclear thriller.
What Are Critics Saying About Netflix’s ‘A House of Dynamite’?
After its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in September, and a short theatrical run that began on October 10, A House of Dynamite finally premiered on Netflix on October 24. After just a couple of days on the streamer, Bigelow’s nuclear war epic climbed the charts, and today, it sits at the first spot on Netflix’s most popular movies list (both globally and in the United States).
As of this writing, A House of Dynamite registered a 79% score with a Certified Fresh label on Rotten Tomatoes. The audience score is slightly lower, at 77%. Some critics are divided between those who celebrate Bigelow’s impressive execution of her idea with a Rashomon-like narrative structure, while others feel that the movie is repetitive. Our own Julian Roman said the following in his review:
“A House of Dynamite ebbs and flows as Bigelow cuts to new viewpoints. This is both fascinating and frustrating as a storytelling tool. Bigelow climbs a narrative ladder to the top, as the President is where the buck stops. We get this searing closure, and then another chapter opens where none of that drama has manifested. It’s important to see the structure of command, but there is a sense of fatigue once we get to the executive decision. The final scene will be very divisive, but it makes sense in context. This proverbial Pandora’s Box has opened, and every decision is a costly one.”
- Release Date
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October 3, 2025
- Runtime
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113 minutes
- Director
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Kathryn Bigelow
- Producers
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Brian Bell, Greg Shapiro