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(**WARNING: Contains major spoilers for A House of Dynamite**)
Kathryn Bigelow's new nuclear thriller A House of Dynamite finally landed on Netflix on Friday (24th October) – and it didn't take long for the film to shoot to the number one spot in the streamer's top 10 as it proved a major hit with subscribers.
The film is one that is sure to cause lots of discussion as viewers ponder the terrifying prospect of a nuclear strike, and one aspect of the film that seems especially ripe for debate is the very ending of the film – the unclear nature of which may well have frustrated some viewers.
We get into the reasons for the ambiguous ending below, with some exclusive insights from the film's writer – former NBC journalist Noah Oppenheim – who explains precisely why any other climax to the film may have "let the audience off the hook."
Of course, the film – whose starry cast includes key roles for Rebecca Ferguson as a White House Situation Room official and Idris Elba as the US President – adopts an interesting structure that sees the same panicked half-hour play out from three different perspectives as various officials deal with an impending strike from an unknown source.
"It was our thought from the very beginning," Oppenheim exclusively explained to RadioTimes.com when asked about taking that approach. "And the reason is simple. If a missile is ever launched at the United States from the Pacific Theater, it will take around 18 minutes to reach here.
"And so that is the amount of time that the President, his generals, the national security apparatus, would have to figure out what's going on: Who's responsible? What are our potential responses? Are there more missiles coming our way?"
He continued: "It's an impossibly insane short period of time to make any kind of decision, let alone one in which the fate of all mankind depends. And so we wanted the audience to experience viscerally just how short 18 minutes is. So we wanted to tell it beginning to end in real time.
"And then we wanted to give the audience, unlike the real decision makers in life, the benefit of a second shot of experiencing it again from another perspective up the chain. So we go from the folks who would first learn about something like this, then we go up to the generals, then we land with the President –the only person who has the authority to decide what to do."
Watched the film and need the final moments unpacked? Read on to have the A House of Dynamite ending explained, with more exclusive insights from Oppenheim.
A House of Dynamite ending explained: What decision does the President take?
If you've seen the film – and if you're reading this, we imagine you have – you'll know that the ending of A House of Dynamite leaves things deliberately vague. After we see the same time period play out from three different perspectives, the film stops each time before the bomb makes impact in Chicago – and before the President decides what sort of retaliatory action to take.
The last thing we see in the film's final chapter is various high-ranking personnel entering a self-sufficient bunker, while the President weighs up two different options that have been presented to him by Lieutenant Commander Robert Reeves (Jonah Hauer-King).
We therefore never find out which decision he takes, and for that matter how far this situation will escalate after the original strike.
Instead, it it is left for the audience to ponder – we can each form our own conclusion as to which course of action is taken by the President.
Why does A House of Dynamite end on a cliffhanger? Writer explains decision
If you're wondering exactly why writer Noah Oppenheim and director Kathyrn Bigelow opted to end the film without any closure for the audience, you're in luck – as we put exactly this question to Oppenheim when he spoke to RadioTimes.com for an exclusive interview ahead of the film's release.
"We chose the ending we did because Kathryn and I both believed that any other ending would let the audience off the hook," he explained. "We don't want to give the audience a clean and neat resolution.
"Any ending where the world is saved or the world is destroyed allows people to kind of walk out of the experience and say, 'Okay, well, that's that.... It ended that way, and it's over, and I can go back to my everyday life.'"
He continued: "I think we're trying to invite the audience to lean into a conversation, not about the specific scenario in this movie, but about the world in which we live. That regardless of what those characters decide, we walk out of the theatre or turn off the television, and we're still in a world where there are several 1000 nuclear weapons, many of which are on a hair trigger.
"And is that a world we want to live in? We should all be participating in that conversation."
Star Jason Clarke, who plays a senior Situation Room official in the film, thought the cliffhanger worked brilliantly in shifting things to the audience.
"This film – which is what Kathyrn does extraordinarily, I think – doesn't leave it with the movie," he explained. "It leaves it with the audience."
"I very rarely felt a piece that just leaves it with you," he added. "'What do you think about it?' Not what do we think about it – we made it. Here it is. And it's not just a cerebral feeling. It's a take your breath away. And the response so far has been just incredible."
Speaking on that response, Rebecca Ferguson revealed that she'd been fascinated to hear discussions about the film and its ending so far.
"I think there's the reference point to what's happening in the world. It's very topical. There's a comparison," she explained. "There is, I think, this underlying... the flabbergasting reality about the amount of nuclear warheads that are out there.
"And I think one of the biggest thing is that people haven't understood that one person has the power. One human being sits on the power to start a nuclear war – and when that hits, it hits hard."
A House of Dynamite is now streaming on Netflix.
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