Posted on 10/28/2025 12:05:04 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
The film dispels the comforting illusion that technology can shield us from a nuclear attack.
Director Kathryn Bigelow’s new thriller, “A House of Dynamite,” is not simply a gripping film — it is a wake-up call. The movie dramatizes, in real time, the terrifying 30-minute window between the launch of a nuclear missile bound for the U.S. and its impact. In doing so, the film exposes a brutal truth that too many decision-makers and policy experts in Washington refuse to admit: Long-range missile defense will not protect us. Our only real path to escape nuclear catastrophe lies in reducing global arsenals.
From the film’s first frames, Bigelow dispels the comforting illusion that technology can shield us from a nuclear attack. “A House of Dynamite” depicts U.S. ground-based interceptors launching and failing to stop the incoming missile. “So it’s a f---ing coin toss? That’s what $50 billion buys us?!” exclaims the frustrated secretary of defense, played by Jared Harris. The answer, in fact, is yes. In scripted tests, U.S. missile defenses against intercontinental weapons have succeeded only about 55 percent of the time — under ideal conditions, with known targets, no decoys and perfectly timed launches. Real war introduces deception, saturation attacks and human failures. The system is brittle. A “silver bullet” defense is a fantasy.
Long-range defenses don’t work, and they make it harder to reduce the nuclear threats we face.
The U.S. has spent hundreds of billions of dollars chasing long-range missile defense systems. Not one has delivered dependable protection. The bloated contracts persist, the well-connected lobbyists benefit and the public clings to hope. But the underlying logic is flawed: Long-range defenses don’t work, and they make it harder to reduce the nuclear threats we face. As...
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.com ...
Hypersonic missiles don’t fly faster than standard ballistic missiles, IIRC.
Nothing is certain. It looks like an implied False-Flag attack by someone spoofing the North Koreans. Not a very good movie. As a previous poster said, I felt like a fool watching it. I should have watched “Fail Safe” or “Dr. Strangelove” again. Or maybe The Bedford Incident.” Hell, watching “The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming” would have been more enjoyable. And least if I’d watched “The Sum of All Fears” I’d have the pleasure of seeing Baltimore nuked.
I liked 50 billion for a coin flip…… fedgov at its finest
Don’t know, have seen only the trailer. The flight path starts well south of Korea.
Don’t know what rogue element would mean, but odds are not bad it is a single launch . . . of a MIRVed missile from a major nuclear power.
Just as the democRATS and DemoKKKrats fought hard to “keep slavery alive” the more recent democRATs blocked missile defense every chance they could.
If the Hussein/Biden/Harris Regime had prevailed, they would probably have sent the Patriot Missile Defense systems to Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas.
No defense system is 100%, and SDI was never intended to be. But if you are in one of the cities that does survive an attack because an incoming nuke is intercepted, you will be more than grateful for the money spent.
Let’s see...$50+billion for SDI...what’s the cost of just one major metropolitan area being hit, let alone several or many? By the numbers, the system pays for itself very quickly in the event of an attack.
You are not alone: I was fairly angry at the end, coupled with my disdain for the writers making many of the players look like - ahem - ‘kitty cats’ and other aggravating details.
NOT recommended. Not even close to the class of film i.e., The Day After et al.
Pathetic waste of $$. Absolute fail of a film.
Besides, a lone city wouldn’t be targeted: It would be LEO detonation for EMP.
IMO multiple interceptor launches, say 8 staged a few seconds apart, would statistically increase the chance of a kill.
Of course the biggest variable in that strategy would be the possibility of secondary launches from the attacking country. Some interceptors would have to be kept in reserve for that possibility.
All in all, the president should have been much better informed of his retaliation options than portrayed in the movie. It appeared to be the first time he was aware of them.
The female FEMA coordinator for the Chicago area was a bitch in general also unaware of basic protocols for such a situation.
On the plus side, I felt a lot of empathy for the army troops when they realized the intercept had failed.
Then a rare miss from a good director. "Point Break" was my favorite of hers. "Hurt Locker" also excellent.
Actually it’s really even less that that. We only have about 40 Missiles that are even available to try and stop an incoming attack.
If you want to read the full consequences of what happens then read Annie Jacobson’s book that came out in March 2025: Nuclear War: A Scenario
She did a lot of research and talked to people who had been directly involved in nuclear war planning. In reality the President has about a 5 minute window to make a decision whether to launch or not.
Part of the plot in her book was used in the Netflix film, the part where a lone launch of a North Korean missile was the catalysts for all out Nuclear War. The true consequences of Nuclear War are devastating and no one survives in the long term.
It was a North Korea sub that launched from the pacific.
Not sure if my math is correct, but this is my first stab at calculating the theoretical failure to intercept a missile with the launch of 8 interceptors.
(1.00 - 0.61)8 = 0.0005352009 = 0.05%
Which translates to a success rate of 99.95%
I just did that for fun. I do not claim to be Albert Einstein.
What about the new missiles Russia has with nuclear powered engines?
| Action | User | Date/Time |
|---|---|---|
| Append keyword "cnbc" | SunkenCiv | 10/28/2025 12:11:27 PM PDT |
| Append keyword "nbc" | SunkenCiv | 10/28/2025 12:11:27 PM PDT |
| Append keyword "msnbc" | SunkenCiv | 10/28/2025 12:11:27 PM PDT |
| Append keyword "nobrainscollectively" | SunkenCiv | 10/28/2025 12:11:27 PM PDT |
| Append keyword "dnctalkingpoints" | SunkenCiv | 10/28/2025 12:11:18 PM PDT |
| Append keyword "mediawingofthednc" | SunkenCiv | 10/28/2025 12:11:18 PM PDT |
| Append keyword "dnctalkingpoint" | SunkenCiv | 10/28/2025 12:11:18 PM PDT |
| Append keyword "massachusetts" | SunkenCiv | 10/28/2025 12:11:00 PM PDT |
| Append keyword "demagogue" | SunkenCiv | 10/28/2025 12:11:00 PM PDT |
| Append keyword "demagogicparty" | SunkenCiv | 10/28/2025 12:11:00 PM PDT |
| Append keyword "panicporn" | SunkenCiv | 10/28/2025 12:11:00 PM PDT |
| Append keyword "edmarkey" | SunkenCiv | 10/28/2025 12:10:22 PM PDT |
| Append keyword "edwardmarkey" | SunkenCiv | 10/28/2025 12:10:22 PM PDT |
| Append keyword "edwardjmarkey" | SunkenCiv | 10/28/2025 12:10:09 PM PDT |
| Append keyword "concerntroll" | SunkenCiv | 10/28/2025 12:10:09 PM PDT |
| Append keyword "concerntrolls" | SunkenCiv | 10/28/2025 12:10:09 PM PDT |
| Append keyword "concerntrolling" | SunkenCiv | 10/28/2025 12:10:09 PM PDT |
Knock it off with the keyword abuses!
SDI never worked to begin with.
When a democrap is in office...the MSM memo is "calm" (mostly peaceful rioting)
Then you run out of missiles very quickly which is what happened in Israel. Their systems have shown they can’t deal with overwhelming missiles coming in, no system can. We have no capability to handle thousands of incoming missiles.
All this tells me is we should decouple from Europe soon.

Just enforce the Kellog-Briand Treaty, Ed. Its still on the books.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.