Critic Reviews
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
It’s entertaining, in that old-fashioned way, if not as witty as they used to make them, but the cast, being superior to the material, keep things convincing enough. .... “Zero Day” does grow a little exhausted, a little wobbly, as it nears the finish line.
-
"Zero Day" deserves some credit for voicing serious concerns about the world (and country) we've built for ourselves, but in the end, it doesn't have much to say.
-
De Niro is an odd fit for that sort of profile; he’s too gruff, too shaggy to convincingly play such a blandly stalwart, stolid figure. The show around him similarly struggles to turn Mullen into a convincing vessel for its sweeping, pacific message.
-
Having seen all six episodes, I can also warn you that the set-up is far better than the pay-off. The main reason to keep watching is De Niro, whose star power drives the show. Enjoy watching a master at work, even if he looks as if he could do this stuff in his sleep.
-
Unfortunately, all the status in the world can’t save it from also being a muddled, labored, suspense-challenged washout.
-
Despite the better efforts of De Niro, Caplan and the rest of the surprisingly stacked ensemble, Zero Day can never really escape the fact it's not full enough to justify its series length.
-
Both plausible and contrived, “Zero Day” is sharply informed by real world trends but unbalanced by trying to cram too many hot-button elements into a six-episode melodrama.
-
“Zero Day” invites many such quandaries without offering much in the way of satisfying answers.
-
Unfortunately, beyond the casting excitement (and a standout performance by Plemons) and despite all of the high, of-the-moment political stakes and cliffhanger twists, Zero Day feels more like a slog than a gripping thriller that reflects these crazy times.
-
So vivid is Zero Day’s evocation of contemporary corruption and unrest that its evasiveness on political affiliations plunges it into the realm of the uncanny. We get the sense that Americans were agitated long before the attack, though details remain murky.
-
It starts off with a decently exciting disaster premise, but quickly starts to feel dull and repetitive in its red tape bureaucracy and political machinations.
-
Robert De Niro, as a former POTUS with integrity, shines in his first crack at series TV, but the double Oscar winner and an A-list cast (love Jesse Plemons) are trapped in a muddled, political thriller about cyber terrorism that is nowhere near as smart as it thinks it is .
-
At its best, it's only boring. At its worst, it presents a nonsensical vision of bipartisan unity and makes dumb decisions about practically everything from plot motivations to the reality of a massive cyberattack. You're better off watching (or rewatching) Mr. Robot.
-
Mullen’s positions and policies are obscured to the point of irrelevancy. And when the few convictions he does espouse are violated, neither the show nor Mullen himself seem to register the contradiction as a moral injury significant enough to require real redress.
-
The series hangs on De Niro’s star power, but he doesn’t have that much to do. For every rousing speech Mullen makes, he has to spend long stretches staring into the middle distance while we are left to guess what’s on his mind.
-
It has limited capacity to surprise, limited interest in provoking, limited ability to entertain. There are worse things in life than watching Robert De Niro’s face for six episodes, but he is let down by material that turns the tortured role of president into a caricature of American earnestness.