(MINI SERIES) Zero Day - Intriguing Political Thriller With Some Brilliant Acting by Its Cast

Two days ago this limited series was released on Netflix. I was interested to give it a try cause the plot seemed intriguing even if it was categorized as political thriller which is usually heavy. But since it was said to be limited series, I thought it would be nice without worrying if it would be renewed in future. OK, without further ado, here's more on the series.

Brief Story Line

After a large cyber attack in the US that killed thousands, president Evelyn Mitchell (Angela Bassett - Gunpowder Milkshake, American Horror Story TV series etc) decided to appoint non partisan former president George Mullen (Robert De Niro - Amsterdam, The Godfather Part II etc) to lead an indenpendent commission and investigate the persons behind and stop further attacks. George's daughter Congresswoman Alexandra (Lizzy Caplan - Now You See Me 2, Cobweb etc) though, was against him leading the commission as he already retired and living peacefully with his wife Sheila (Joan Allen -  Nixon, The Contender etc). However, George's trusted assistant Roger (Jesse Plemons - Windfall, Game Night etc) encouraged him to take the position which he ultimately did.

The commission was given vast authority to fast track the investigation that worried US Senate who felt the need for accountability. Speaker of the House Richard Dreyer (Matthew Modine - Retribution, Married to the Mob etc) always pushed for an audit on their action that made George's work more challenging. It did not help when a TV personality Evan Green (Dan Stevens - Abigail, The Rental etc) tried to undermine George all the time. Further investigation also revealed other things that challenge George's intention to find out the truth, not to mention having his own personal problem.

So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this series.

End of Brief Story Line

As I said above, the thing that made me intrigued was the main plot with cyber attack and its investigation. And the first episode certainly made me hooked with an intriguing opening scene, the intense albeit short attack and one wonderful scene involving George in front of the mass in Manhattan. That scene reminded me again of how amazing Robert De Niro in acting. The episode also ended with a rather shocking scene that I did not see coming.

Subsequently though, the pace felt a bit slow with the investigation did not seem to move forward and few distracting scenes involving Roger as well as Alex. There was also the existence of something that seemed to come from science fiction (which did not feel like it was fully resolved even till the end). Luckily the fifth episode sprang to life with some astonishing facts and then came the finale. It was pretty awesome especially with ending that was exactly what I had hoped for. I was a bit worried at first that it might have different end but it was indeed satisfying for me.

I believe that this series was relying on the cast, specifically Robert De Niro and I think he did not disappoint, showing some flashes of brilliance in here. Aside from those names I mentioned, the main cast also consisted of other people like Connie Britton (Luckiest Girl Alive, The White Lotus season 1 etc) as former Chief of Staff Valerie Whitesell, McKinley Belcher III (Ozark TV series, Eraser: Reborn etc) as Lead Investigator Carl Otieno and Bill Camp (Presumed Innocent TV series, Dark Waters etc) as CIA Director Lasch. Some notable recurring cast included Clark Gregg (Captain Marvel, The West Wing TV series etc) as businessman Robert Lyndon, Gaby Hoffman (Volcano, Transparent TV series etc) as Tech Mogul Monica Kidder, Mozhan Navabi (The Blacklist TV series etc) as Melissa Kornblau Head of PR for the Comission and few others. But aside from De Niro, I think the quite impressive ones were Joan Allen, Matthew Modine and Dan Stevens who was really convincing as obnoxious guy. Angela Bassett though did not get the chance to show her capabilities.

I saw in the closing credits that the series was not based on anything. After further reading, i found that it was created by Eric Newman (Narcos, True Story etc) who also served as showrunner, Noah Oppenheim and Michael Schmidt.  I also noticed that De Niro was credited as one of the Executive Producers. To my surprise, the series was only getting mixed reviews by critics as I thought they would be impressed if not by the story, at least by the actings. Nevertheless audience seemed to be more receptive, although its performance could be seen only by next week.

In the end this is a political thriller that I quite ejoyed with an interesting topic and some scenes showing wonderful acting skills of several of the cast. The thrill though felt a bit incosistent particularly in the middle while the politics were not entirely boring (or too overly detailed). It has an ending that satisfied me, but a bit of sci-fi did not feel too fitting here, at least for me. So if you are in the mood for something like this, then you are welcome to give it a try. And the good thing is, it is a limited series having only 6 episodes with pretty conclusive ending. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars