Strap in for a wild ride with the rapidly-paced black comedy thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the explosive ending.
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“I want you to prove to me what a special person you are,” the man on the earpiece explains. “You, my friend, are the beginning of something great.”
Directors Jean Luc Herbulot and Hus Miller craft a biting thriller and black comedy in Zero, a film beginning with two American men lost in the city of Dakar in West Africa, with bombs strapped to their chests. Each bomb has a ten-hour timer on it, counting down to zero.
Who are these men, and why are they being targeted? Do they have a chance at saving themselves?
In a similar vein as films like 13: Game of Death and Cheap Thrills, Zero begins as a black comedy. Serving up thriller vibes with a bite of humor, Herbulot and Miller craft an exceptional opening.
The two leads, known only as One and Two, are found in different circumstances. They manage to find each other once One has woken up on a bus. He has to run from the local police when they find out he does indeed have a bomb strapped to his chest.
Two is introduced a little later in the film, already completing tasks and rushing to beat the ten-hour timer in a bold way. While he is less meek than One and presumably has a criminal background because of the ease of his actions, both leads lack character development until the very end when their fates are clearer.
I hoped to see these characters change and grow together, but the film is lacking until the end.
This film is definitely more of an action thriller than a horror film, as the fast-paced plot kept me on the edge of my seat.
The tone is tense, seemingly random, and disorganized from the very beginning.
The motives of the man behind the earpiece are deep, complex, personal, and sociopolitical. Like watching a mouse struggle in a trap, these men are stuck, and this left me with a dark feeling in my gut.
Why were these men chosen? Who is directing them to do these horrible things? How are they the beginning of something great?
Going into any more detail would spoil the movie, which would be criminal because it is a well-thought-out film. The comedic tone fizzles out by the end, which is very disappointing. I assumed a film with a goat who is a social media star would be a little more lighthearted and a little less slick with the plot. I definitely had to pause and rewind multiple times just to get all the details jotted down.
All in all, Zero is a wild romp through the concept of how dominoes fall in society.
Every action has an inescapable reaction, begging the question: Where will we be when the revolution comes?
Overall Rating (Out of 5 Butterflies): 3.5
ZERO had its World Premiere at Beyond Fest 2024, where it was screened for this review. It has been picked up for worldwide distribution by Blue Finch Films.
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