STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful
George Mullen (Robert De Niro) is a former president of America, who hit a downward spiral after the death of his son. Estranged from his daughter, Alexandra (Lizzy Caplan), with whom he disagrees on policy, he suddenly finds his entire being plunged into chaos when America's entire critical infrastructure is attacked, and the current serving President Mitchell (Angel Bassett) implements a 'Zero Day' order, where citizen's individual civil liberties and freedoms are temporarily suspended, and Mullen is assigned to get to the bottom of it.
In a modern age where technology controls so much, and we are dependent on it for so much of our everyday needs and demands, a project like Zero Day is certainly very prescient, and has a genuinely nightmarish tinge to it, especially when you consider it's power over life and death, as this series highlights. Lesli Linka Glatter's Netflix production has an all star cast, from the likes of De Niro, Bassett, as well as Jesse Plemons, Matthew Modine and Bill Camp, and, at the very least, makes the most of them.
With a largely older cast, it's clearly not aimed primarily at a younger, more frenzied audience, used to a more flashy, frenetic pace, and needs time to marinate and sink in with it's audience, even at a fairly succinct six episodes. So if nothing else, it's refreshingly different, even if some of the early dialogue is a little corny and theatrical. In the lead role, as an elder statesman less capable of physical intimidation, De Niro carries everything with his presence, a cold, uncompromising glare that gets the same effect, along with a supporting cast that are not wasted.
It's a present day concept, paced towards an older audience, resulting in a strange but successful result, with a slightly hackneyed but satisfying payoff that just about makes it worth it. ***
