A House of Dynamite opens to low, menacing cello notes that recall John Williams’ iconic theme from Jaws, and to be sure, a monster is coming to devour everything and everyone in sight. Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow’s first film in eight years is a geopolitical thriller of nerve-wracking, edge-of-your-seat, heart-in-your-throat intensity, charting the efforts of various segments of the United States government to cope with an impending nuclear strike. At first, they assume it’s another in a recent string of North Korean exercises, and so too does Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson), a mother and wife who runs the White House Situation Room. A House of Dynamite argues that the world will, in fact, end with a bang—several, potentially—and that before it, disbelief will give way to panic, fear, and shocked resignation. Gabriel Basso Eros Hoagland/NetflixBy the end of its maiden installment, A House of Dynamite reaches its conclusion.