Just like the way the circus of lawsuits that ensued after It Ends With Us distracted from any quality in the film itself, you can't appreciate a film like this without being deeply disappointed because of the disconnect between it and the real world in which it's been released.

Something (good) movies about modern military and political infrastructures and chains of command portray is people who are much smarter than civilians, know their jobs, stay focused despite incomplete information but have a very wide network of technologies and processes to make appropriate decisions because they ultimately care about and want to protect their people.

But just like you can't watch any number of jingoistic movies about the US military in the Middle East (American Sniper, The Outpost) without the spectre that US forces are – still – only entrenched there under false pretences, you can't watch a movie where the US President is caring and intelligent without remembering that his real world counterpart is a spiteful buffoon who openly attacks anyone who hurts his ego, foments hate and division across the world and seems as intelligent as a baboon (as well as looking like one they shaved down and taught to speak passable English).

Movies should let you forget your troubles for a few hours, but A House of Dynamite so elegantly portrays exactly what you imagine this scenario would look like, it's impossible to forget that the handsome and noble Idris Elba wrestling with whether to launch America's nuclear arsenal is fiction and artifice.

And it's a shame the real world of American politics has become so ridiculous it encroaches on the experience of watching this movie, because it's a brilliantly made political/military thriller. An object – presumably a missile – has been launched at the continental USA from across the world somewhere. Nobody knows what it is, where it's from or exactly where it's bound, but the military machinery springs into action, from a high tech White House situation room duty officer (Rebecca Ferguson) to a remote Alaskan missile defence outpost officer (Anthony Ramos) to find out and scramble some sort of defence.

Along with a blur of peripheral characters, they communicate across the world, trying to get hold of various experts and bases as well as the Secretary of Defence (Jared Harris) and President (Elba) themselves, and the conundrum becomes not only to find out what the thing is, but whether to launch a counter-attack (and at who). If America is going to lose one of its major population centres and not respond immediately, will it provoke more aggression?

When the object is spotted there's about 20 minutes until it hits its soon-revealed target; Chicago. Countermeasures have already failed and when the clock ticks down to the final seconds, the screen clears and the story starts again, looking at a different set of characters, but with what we've already seen and know in the background thanks to snatches of radio conversations and recordings.

This time the focus is primarily on the Deputy National Security Advisor (Gabriel Basso), who gets stuck in the traffic jam when various lockdowns and protective measures spring up around Washington and has to run the rest of the way to the White House, trying to stay on a conference call with the major players and convince them to let him call counterparts in Russia and figure out whether it was them.

He also ropes in a Korean-American intelligence officer attending the annual recreation of the battle of Gettysburg (Greta Lee) to get her advice on North Korea's likely involvement.

At the same time, we cut to a B2 bomber wing tooling up and launching, prepared to unleash hell on America's enemies, and a FEMA officer (Moses Ingram) selected to make her way immediately to a underground military mountain bunker to ensure continuation of the government if the worst happens.

The clock ticks down again and we start the story over, this time focusing on the President and Secretary of Defence. The former is at a women's' basketball league rally when the Secret Service unceremoniously drag him from the proceeding, desperately trying to get him to Marine One in time. And the Defence Secretary, in between trying to figure out what's happening and coordinate with the various branches of the military and government, is trying to reach his estranged daughter... who lives in Chicago.

I'm not going to reveal whether a foreign aggressor has attacked the USA here, and – without giving too much away – the movie isn't all that interested in that either. It actually wants to tell you the story of how the American government/military apparatus becomes a well-oiled machine when there's a military threat (and the gaps in that machine through communications technology and military failures, human error and doubt).

And much like the way Conclave recently portrayed the trappings, locations, processes and human foibles of electing a new pope, everything on screen looks and sounds startlingly authentic, both adding to breakneck urgency of the story and making it seem all the more terrifyingly plausible.

Your heart will be in your throat most of the time, and Kathryn Bigelow has lost none of her skill in blistering, smart action cinema.