First-draft soap opera cosplaying as political commentary, with neither zeit nor geist.
In typical Netflix fashion, Zero Day takes far too long to say far too little. It’s “ripped from the headlines” on no deeper level than simply using the same font as them: it draws on only the most superficial signifiers of cyberterrorism, disinformation wars, and the Patriot Act, but fails abysmally to demonstrate even an understanding of them, much less say anything about them.
Instead, Zero Day pads its mere six episodes with one-dimensional characters, inauthentic portrayals of politicians and protesters alike, and a concerted aversion to character development. Most egregious of all, it’s so thematically simplistic and dramaturgically flat that even its A-list cast is as washed out as its barely-graded log footage.
Zero Day should be sprawling and its commentary biting; instead, it’s bloated, inert, ultimately pointless, and bafflingly nothing.
George Mullen (Robert De Niro) is the beloved former American President, assigned by the current American President Evelyn Mitchell (Angela Bassett) to head up a fascistic task force with no oversight in a race against the clock (maybe?) to capture the perpetrators of a nation-stopping cyber attack. Throw into the mix Mullen’s questionable mental fitness, boilerplate family drama, and generic political intrigue, and the story quickly whittles down to one of two meh outcomes: either the former President is indeed the best man in America to trust with unchecked authority and no due process (which is, at this real-world moment, wild), or he is indeed as dishonest, corruptible, untrustworthy, and abusive of power as any politician (which would constitute no twist at all). Either way: what’s the point?
For a series in 2024-2025 stretching its interests across authoritarianism, emergency powers, political corruption, martial law, independent journalism, as well as misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda, not to mention mental health and generational trauma, Zero Day should be sprawling and its commentary biting; instead, it’s bloated, inert, ultimately pointless, and bafflingly nothing.
Further Viewing
For some reason, the term slop comes to mind…
Don’t be like Zero Day – learn to colour grade your Log footage: