Zero Day Review: Robert De Niro's Political Thriller Is Interesting but Its Pacing Tests Your Patience - K-waves and Beyond
Director: Lesli Linka Glatter
Date Created: 2025-02-20 19:20
2.5
Zero Day Review: Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter and created by Eric Newman, Noah Oppenheim, Michael Schmidt, Eli Attie, Dee Johnson and Roberto Patino. The six-episode series features the great Robert De Niro in the role of former president George Mullen, along with Jesse Plemons, Lizzy Caplan, Connie Britton, Joan Allen, Dan Stevens, Matthew Modine and Angela Bassett. The show centres on an ex-president’s reemergence into public life as he investigates a calamitous cyber-attack that plunges the country into turmoil. But if Zero Day lives up to the hype? Well, let’s get into it.
Zero Day Review
I had high hopes for Netflix’s Zero Day, considering its impressive cast and timely subject matter. However, I was disappointed in the series. In theory, the show’s blend of political intrigue and personal drama should work well, but in its execution, it’s out of balance. The pacing, especially, was a tremendous disappointment. (Later episodes chugged, burdened with bathetic political jargon and interminable scenes that did nothing to advance the plot.) Instead of ratcheting up the tension, the slow pacing made it hard to stay engaged.
Robert De Niro was good throughout, but at times, his portrayal of George Mullen felt too restrained at times. His character’s actions lacked urgency, which made it difficult to connect with the stakes of the story. The premise of a previous president making a return visit to manage a cratering national crisis had all sorts of possibilities, but the execution so far has felt ho-hum, generic.
And though the cast can surely act, not even stellar performances could save the series. Jesse Plemons and Lizzy Caplan do their best, but their characters are one-dimensional and fail to leave much of a mark. Alexandra Mullen’s fraught relationship with her father had the potential to inject emotional heft, but it felt underdeveloped. Connie Britton and Angela Bassett were underutilized, as well, and I wished for more from their characters.
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One thing that should’ve made this better was if they’d explored the cyber warfare and misinformation aspect. These themes are so relevant now, but “Zero Day” barely touches them. The motivations of the hacker group were vaguely explained and the ultimate reveal of who was behind the cyber-attack felt anticlimactic. The forbearance leading to the twist was too conspicuous, rendering the denouement predictable instead of shocking.
And although I felt generally disappointed, there were a couple things I did like. The show’s effort to explore mental health through George Mullen’s struggle with potential dementia (riding so high on the current wave of media about ageing and mental health) brought some vulnerability to him. But even this subplot wasn’t developed enough to have a real effect. And sure, there were moments of tension that did give me a little bit of interest — but they were few and far between.
Summing Up
In the end, Zero Day 2025 is a mixed bag. Robert De Niro’s performance gives the show a degree of cred, but its never able to sustain much narrative tension over its six-episode run. The arc about hackers who connect with a rogue inputter is suspenseful, but the outcome is never in question. The political conspiracy angle could have been interesting but is hampered by underdeveloped characters and weak subplots. The show stirs annoyance, not suspense, and its ending is more perfunctory than affecting. If your idea of a political thriller has some real depth and surprising turns, this series won’t fill that bill.
Political thriller series Zero Day is now streaming on Netflix
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