Zero Day

I'm usually not into politics or political shows, but this one was truly refreshing. Perfect length, interesting to follow, and it has some great twists.

De Niro! I just figured this man is 81, but oh man - he delivered! Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant actor!

I also liked Jesse Plemons (Roger) a lot in this one.

Overall, 9/10, but super close to being 10/10 for me.

Zero Day is as good as you would expect it to be with a cast this good. Everything about this series is good from the writing to the cinematography but it's the acting that really sets it apart. It's loaded with talent like Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons, Connie Britton, Lizzy Caplan, Dan Stevens, Joan Allen, Angela Bassett, Clark Gregg, etc. Everyone I just named is good enough to be a lead for a good show but for them all to come together for this makes this worth watching. This miniseries is only 6 episodes so it's an easy binge and you're going to want to binge it so make sure you give yourself enough time before you start it because you won't want to stop. It has plenty of mystery and twists to keep everyone entertained. I'll be shocked if this doesn't get nominated for some awards, especially De Niro. He was fantastic in this. I definitely recommend watching this.

"Zero Day" started with a bang and finished with a crescendo. It was a whodunit on a national scale where just about anyone was a suspect. It was rooted in just enough realism with technology and governmental operations that "Zero Day" could really happen.

What kicked off everything was a one minute network outage. Now, you probably remember when Microsoft had their system glitch in 2024 and the chaos that it caused. Imagine a network outage on a national scale affecting every computer operated and monitored system. The devastating effects would be enormous.

Well, that's what happened in "Zero Day." From there it was a mad scramble by the U. S. government to find who the culprits were and why. As could be expected, habeas corpus was suspended and the President (played by Angela Bassett) created a Zero Day Commission headed by former President George Mullen (Robert De Niro) and imbued the commission with full state of emergency powers. Things were emotionally and politically tense. If the commission failed there would be hell to pay and national confidence in the U. S. government would take a severe hit. Those are very high stakes, but so is national security.

I loved just about every moment of it. Our vantage point as viewers was mostly from George Mullen's perspective, which put us in the driver's seat of the investigation. He made moves that doubtlessly pleased some and angered others, but positively we still wanted answers as much as he did.

Netflix.

...and that's the long and short of it. No, it isn't a 10, and but it certainly isn't a 1/10.

There's nothing stand out about the plot, and no edge of the seat moments. As others have said, the confusion that de Niro's character suffers from is hammy, clumsy, overdone and overly-repeated... and it adds nothing to the plot. It's just an annoyance to watch.

Plemmons is ok - not one of his better roles but his portrayal is fine. As is De Niro, just fine in his role but nothing special - sometimes even a little one dimensional (though the script may be to blame for that).

Angela Bassett is woeful though, unbelievable as a sitting president. Again that may be down to the script - her character trying to push urgency with no real necessity behind it. "I'm holding a press conference in 2 days so you need results by then" is the same line used in 70's police series/ films, where the Captain shouts "You've got 48 hours or it's your badge".

It was watchable, but I managed to follow the whole thing while working at home.

Just a bit average really.

I have this a 6 out of anger after two viewings. It should be at least a 7 or 8 on De Niro's performance alone yet it's clear that this miniseries is a terrifyingly squandered opportunity. It's simply too short for its ambitions and the lack of space results in extremely uneven pacing and lost threads.

The subject is by now well known - in the wake of a cyberattack the US president calls on a former president to lead an investigation that is given obviously unconstitutional powers. It's an obvious parallel to 9/11 that is rubbed in the audience's nose clearly later on.

The series is too short to cover all moving pieces in a deserving way:

• the investigation itself: the technical aspects are largely ignored and require hefty suspension of disbelief. The series pacing picks up when dealing with the investigation itself. However given the issue at hand the investigation is just not present enough
• the political quagmire - obviously political issues are in play both in Washington as well as throughout social media. The series shows the struggle in dealing with them in the context of sensitive investigation but it still feels superficial given that all players in the political aspect have a vested interest in the investigation itself. It would have been an amazing play to have some characters fight the investigation out of public interest.

• character development - this is the most painful point. All/most characters are well acted and interesting and deserve way more development than they get. Their development is uneven and it is what drags pacing down to a crawl. There's no balance in the script at all
• subplots - there are some that are just left hanging. It's not really essential but it's another missed opportunity. Some make sense to leave to the imagination of the audience after providing pertinent details but others just aren't driven into "makes sense" territory at all.

All in all it's a great premise and good structure that gets dismantled on poorly thought out details.