When a single, unattributed missile is launched at the United States, a race begins to determine who is responsible and how to respond.
Kathryn Bigelow's thriller lands in broadly favorable territory, with critics responding to its nerve-wracking plausibility and Idris Elba's performance. The film's greatest strength, according to reviewers, is how grounded and genuinely frightening it feels — less a genre exercise than a sobering real-world warning dressed as suspense cinema.
“tense, precise, extremely sobering thriller”
Glenn Kenny·RogerEbert.com
“might not fall into the horror movie genre, but it might as well because it is more frightening than any of them”
Pete Hammond·Deadline Hollywood
Drama, Thriller
When a single, unattributed missile is launched at the United States, a race begins to determine who is responsible and how to respond.
Kathryn Bigelow's thriller lands in broadly favorable territory, with critics responding to its nerve-wracking plausibility and Idris Elba's performance. The film's greatest strength, according to reviewers, is how grounded and genuinely frightening it feels — less a genre exercise than a sobering real-world warning dressed as suspense cinema.
“tense, precise, extremely sobering thriller”
Glenn Kenny·RogerEbert.com
“might not fall into the horror movie genre, but it might as well because it is more frightening than any of them”
Pete Hammond·Deadline Hollywood
Drama, Thriller