Joan Allen, Dan Stevens, Angela Bassett and an all-star cast leads a political thriller that does not live up to its intriguing premise.
Plot: Respected former U.S. President George Mullen, who, as head of the Zero Day Commission, is charged with finding the perpetrators of a devastating cyber attack that has caused chaos, and thousands of fatalities, across the country. As disinformation runs rampant and the personal ambition of power brokers in technology, Wall Street, and government collide, Mullen’s unwavering search for the truth forces him to confront his own dark secrets while risking all he holds dear.
Review: Throughout his sixty-year career, Robert De Niro has made dramas, comedies, documentaries, period films, and virtually every genre you can think of. He has played heroes, soldiers, politicians, villains, and everything in between, but Zero Day represents two substantial firsts for the iconic actor. For the first time, Robert De Niro is starring in a television series, and for the first time, he is portraying the President of the United States. Accompanied by a critically acclaimed cast that included Angela Bassett, Joan Allen, Jesse Plemons, Matthew Modine, Dan Stevens, Lizzy Caplan, Connie Britton, Clark Gregg, and more, Zero Day is a fascinating concept for a long-form series that combines the intrigue of Netflix’s House of Cards with a timely tale of cyberterrorism. With a fantastic leading turn by Robert De Niro, Zero Day is good but had the potential to be so much better.
Zero Day refers to a catastrophic cyber-attack on the United States that happens early in the series’ first episode. As the clock begins ticking from that point forward, former President George Mullen (Robert De Niro) is nominated by sitting President Evelyn Mitchell to lead a Commission with sweeping power that circumvents the law and the Constitution as they try to figure out who attacked the United States and bring them to justice. Reluctantly, Mullen runs the Zero Day Commission with the support of his wife, Sheila (Joan Allen), and his chief aide, Roger Carlson (Jesse Plemons). Mullen’s daughter Alex (Lizzy Caplan), a congresswoman, is opposed to the commission and is asked by Speaker of the House Richard Dreyer (Matthew Modine) to serve on the oversight board above the Zero Day Commission. A very balanced and respected leader, Mullen begins the investigation by connecting to some of his former sources to gather intel, revealing that the former President’s state of mind may not be as sound as everyone believes.
Told across six episodes, Zero Day begins with a very intriguing concept and the idea of a beloved former President overseeing the most powerful agency in the country’s history. Despite his unbridled power, Mullen follows the letter of the law but struggles with whether his mental state is clouding his own judgment. There are also the competing interests of those around him including CIA director Lasch (Bill Camp), the Speaker of the House, and wealthy private investor Robert Lyndon (Clark Gregg), who has his own motives for wanting the blame to fall a certain way, tech CEO Monica Kidder (Gaby Hoffmann) who seeks to partner with Mullen, and blowhard extreme news personality Evan Green (Dan Stevens) who stokes conspiracy theories that fire up the already paranoid American public. Add in Mullen balancing the perspectives brought by his wife and daughter as well as guilt lingering from the death of his son while he was in office. Zero Day has plenty of material to dig into for any television series.
The sheer amount of material presented through Zero Day also poses the biggest challenge for the show. With only six hour-long chapters to take the series from the opening attack through a satisfying conclusion, it is not nearly enough time. There are multiple storylines and subplots in Zero Day that could have either been excised completely or would have needed additional seasons to dig into. Some actors in the cast are relegated to just a few scenes, and others are built up as substantial parts of the plot, only to disappear in subsequent episodes. Some actors, namely Jesse Plemons, Lizzy Caplan, and Connie Britton get the bulk of the screen time alongside Robert De Niro and make great use of their roles, but they are stuck in a story that is bigger than it has room to tell. This is a shame, as this is one of Robert De Niro’s best performances in years. The eighty-one-year-old icon carries himself as a decade or more younger than he actually is and affords himself as a brilliant politician and an everyman who I would have voted for to be President of the United States. That being said, his character has so much to do in so little time that by the end of the final episode, I was left wondering if maybe another episode was coming or a potential second season, but there isn’t. This is it.
Lesli Linka Glatter directed all six episodes of Zero Day. Glatter is best known for her work on Mad Men and Showtime’s Homeland, with that latter series providing structural and visual inspiration for this series. Created by Eric Newman (Narcos) and Noah Oppenheim (Jackie) alongside journalist Michael S. Schmidt, Zero Day feels like it could be based on a true story. There are plenty of references to September 11, COVID-19, and the rise of political extremism that add to the eerie feel that this story is a Black Mirror-esque nightmare of what could happen someday. But, much of that is squandered as the series enters the final two episodes, with many questions not yet answered before trying to wrap everything up neatly. This leaves Zero Day feeling rushed as if a multi-season plan was condensed down to a single, short, limited run of six episodes.
Zero Day has all the hallmarks of what should and could have been a great ongoing series or even an intriguing feature film. Instead, Robert De Niro’s excellent turn as one of the best fictional Presidents is squandered by a series that fails to take advantage of the medium by doing too much and not paying it off in the end. You are not alone if you watch Zero Day and are confused about where several supporting characters end up by the final episode. This could have been a really great project and Netflix’s worthy successor to House of Cards. Instead, we are left with a project that wastes one of the best ensemble casts in recent memory with a story bogged down by red herrings and misdirections while still managing to be somewhat entertaining. I wish I had liked Zero Day more than I did because it should have been great.
Zero Day premieres on February 20th on Netflix.
