Robert De Niro takes on his first major TV role in Zero Day, a six-episode political thriller now streaming on Netflix. In the show, he plays a former U.S. President, seen as a trustworthy leader. Former President George Mullen is pulled out of retirement by the current President, Evelyn Mitchell (Angela Bassett), to help with a terror crisis. A surprise cyberattack has hit the country, with the source unknown, taking down air and traffic control systems and causing the deaths of 3,402 people in just one minute.
As the world becomes more linked, we’re also more aware of how easily things can fall apart – our money, power, and water – it could all disappear in a flash. Netflix’s Zero Day seems to look at how people would react to a huge attack on that fragile system. What truths would we believe? How do we protect ourselves? Are we doomed to repeat past mistakes for the sake of justice?
Chaos breaks out as digital messages pop up on everyone’s phones, warning that “this will happen again.” Mitchell asks Mullen to lead the Zero Day Commission, which Congress has given the power to track down the attackers, even letting them grab people off the streets without warrants – a pretty chilling move on civil liberties that brings back memories of the post-9/11 era.
Zero Day is pretty thrilling when it digs into these current issues. But the family drama slows it down, especially with the Mullens' son’s fatal drug overdose, the president’s cheating, and the tension it caused in his marriage and with his bitter daughter.
The team behind it is solid. Along with De Niro leading a star-studded cast, the series is put together by Eric Newman ("Narcos"), ex-NBC News president Noah Oppenheim, and Times reporter Michael S. Schmidt. Plus, every episode is directed by Lesli Linka Glatter, who’s no stranger to political drama with Homeland.
De Niro is the one who really keeps us hooked, a man concerned that age might be dulling his mind, but never his sense of right and wrong.
