‘Zero Day' review: Zero intrigue in this thriller starring Robert De Niro
'Shoulda been a movie,' is my battle cry about so many streaming series. But I'm not sure Netflix's 'Zero Day' is sturdy enough to even work as a stand-alone film. The six-episode conspiracy thriller starring Robert De Niro is too convoluted to generate real intrigue.
De Niro plays a former president, named George Mullen, who is called back into action by the current president (Angela Bassett) after a nationwide cyber attack. Who is behind it? Mullen heads up the commission tasked with finding out, and he's been given all kinds of powers that make the Constitution moot. Complicating matters are an unruly public goaded by an opportunistic conspiracy theorist (Dan Stevens) and scrambling politicians looking to score points, including Mullen's nepo-baby congresswoman daughter (Lizzy Caplan). Also, Mullen might be having some issues with memory and hallucinations. His two aides, played by Jesse Plemons and Connie Britton, do their best to cover for him.
The issues with the show are straightforward. De Niro looks bored and Bassett has been asked to do little more than appear serious and concerned in a few scenes. It's surprising to see the talents of two of Hollywood's most skillful actors squandered, but that's true of the cast as a whole, who isn't asked to play characters so much as chess pieces. And the writing is clunky. When Mullen arrives to work on the commission, someone tells him, with a straight face: 'It will be an honor to once again keep the jackals at bay while you save the country, sir.'
Frequently we see a thing happen, then there's a montage of news coverage recounting the thing we just saw happen, which I suppose is one way to pad the running time. So are multiple clandestine meetings wherein a person is threatened, and then threatened once again. These are the kinds of delay tactics that sap energy from the story when it should feel tight and suspenseful. Filled with images of men clenching their jaws and pouring themselves a stiff drink, the show's recurring theme seems to be 'they are numbing themselves to the mess of their own making,' but there are more interesting ways to visualize that. Either way, there's no room in the narrative for anyone who isn't an elite, aiming for 'political thriller,' minus a cogent political point of view.
Two of the show's three creators, former NBC news president Noah Oppenheim and journalist Michael Schmidt, have no prior experience with scripted dramas. But Eric Newman (whose credits include 'Narcos' and being a producer on 'Children of Men') is far too seasoned to explain such a gobbledygook story filled with empty moral platitudes. Was 'Zero Day' more clear-headed in its original conception, only to lose its way due to executive notes and algorithmic dictates? Hard to know.
Don't buy into analysis that tries to suggest the show has its finger on the pulse of the nation, with a megalomaniac tech billionaire (Gaby Hoffmann) wreaking havoc with the help of elected officials, and the word 'coup' uttered briefly in the show's final episode. Ultimately, it's unclear what story 'Zero Day' wants to tell.
No matter how intense the stakes get, De Niro never raises his voice and it is the one intriguing choice the show makes. But it's not enough.
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