Product Details

• Actors: Elijah Wood, Jon Bernthal, Chris Klein, Ginnifer Goodwin
• Directors: Bryan Gunnar Cole
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: First Look Pictures
• DVD Release Date: February 26, 2008
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000XJ5UEE
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,479 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Three best friends george a successful lawyer dixon a tough- as-nails cab driver & feller a writer with a host of insecurities are drafted & given 30 days to report for duty. In that time theyre forced to confront everything they believe about courage duty love friendship & honor. Studio: First Look Home Entertain Release Date: 04/22/2008 Starring: Elijah Wood Chris Klein Run time: 93 minutes Rating: R

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Day zero approaches, March 2, 2008

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Day Zero (DVD)

What if the draft were reinstated, and the young men of the United States suddenly forced to join the army, fight, and perhaps die -- without any free choice?

Thankfully, that hasn't happened just yet, and hopefully it won't anytime soon. But "Day Zero" takes a hard, sometimes frightening look at three young men who face that very ordeal. Instead of pompous politics or big war stories, it's an intimate, visceral experience that seems more interested in the "ordinary guys" than in the war itself.

In the near future, terrorists have struck again, this time attacking the West Coast -- and in response, the United States has reactivated the draft. All males between eighteen and thirty-five have to sign up for army duty in one month. This includes three friends: street smart cabbie Dixon (Jon Bernthal), wealthy young lawyer George (Chris Klein), and fragile writer Aaron (Elijah Wood).

In the month that follows, all three are struggling -- George wants to stay with his newly cancer-free wife (Ginnifer Goodwin) rather than fight in a war he despises, and tries to arrange an excuse to stay behind. Dixon's new girlfriend leaves him wondering what he'll lose if he leaves. And Aaron is just terrified. He makes a "ten things to do in the next month" list, but his fragile psyche starts to crumble under his fear of army life and death.

As Day Zero approaches, all three men must find the pressure building to new heights, and must decide where their choices -- and futures -- lie.

"Day Zero" is not a cheerful movie -- despite a lack of boot camps, battlefields and pompous political preaching, this movie is pretty dark fare. It's more interested in the hearts of drafted young men, and how they react -- how they react to the news, and how their potential loss affects their loved ones. And of course, the question of whether having a loved one gives you something to stay for.

And first-time director Bryan Gunnar Cole does a pretty serviceable job. He slowly builds the tensions to a snapping point -- there are lots of raw emotional outbursts, and the entire movie has a cloud of dark inevitability hanging over it like a nasty ghost. Thee are a few flaws -- some patches of dud dialogue, and the embarrassing gay-bar screamfest -- are simply embarrassing to watch.

Despite the dark tone, Cole does manage to weave in some comic moments, mostly from Aaron, his Bowflex, and his hilariously insensitive shrink. But these humorous moments have a tragic twist, even as they make the darker moments go down more easily.

Klein gives the weakest performance of the bunch, especially since George is such a blatantly unsympathetic character -- not to mention that Klein's performance is wooden, lackluster, and rather boring. While Dixon's background is rather cliched, Bernthal does a more solid job as a hothead who actually gets something to love -- and lose -- and has to grow up a bit.

Goodwin gives a solid, intense performance as a woman who has just regained her future, and she easily overshadows Klein. And Wood has the most challenging role: a man too fragile and sensitive to cope with his own fears, let alone the army. His downward spiral might have seemed silly in another actor's hands, but here it's just painfully stunning and pitiable. Few actors have the skill to pull off that breakdown.

It's worth noting that despite its flaws, "Day Zero's" goal is not to change your mind or your war stance, but simply to give you something to think about, and in that, it succeeds. Definitely worth seeing, and worth mulling over once it's over.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What if the Draft were Reinstated?, March 3, 2008

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Day Zero (DVD)

The Draft as a means for supplying the armed forces with manpower ended with the Vietnam War. DAY ZERO is a thought provoking film that raises the question of how today's youth would respond were the Draft reinstated as a result of the ever-growing Iraq War. Writer Robert Malkani and director Bryan Gunnar Cole respond to the question by creating three characters, long time friends, but each with a different response to the forced servitude in a wartime situation. As with any film dealing with controversial subject matter there are ideas presented that will disturb just about everyone no matter their stance on compulsive servitude, and it is that aspect that makes this film work so well in jolting our thinking.

The time is New York, now, and the media has just announced the reinstatement of the Draft to cope with the drained national volunteer army. Three friends receive their draft notices simultaneously: successful lawyer George Rifkin (Chris Klein) whose marriage to a cancer survivor wife Molly (Ginnifer Goodwin) is part of the solid state of life he resists changing; fantasy writer Aaron Feller (Elijah Wood) who is in progress on a novel he must finish while his life is otherwise rather on shaky ground, controlled by his loopy therapist (Ally Sheedy); cab driver James Dixon (Jon Bernthal) who has a past history of being a loner and attempting to control violent behavior. The gamut runs from refusal to even consider the draft (Rifkin) to being nonplussed by the disruption to his psyche (Feller) to gung-ho ready to fight Dixon. The three young men have thirty days to Day Zero and in those thirty days each undergoes profound changes and introspection and self-discovery that very keenly illustrates the effect that such a governmental edict can have on today's youth.

This is ensemble acting that rivals that of any fine film: there are no stars here, only actors portraying emotional changes that are universal in nature. And for a first film by director Cole it succeeds on most levels. In addition to the work of the four main actors there are fine cameos by young Sofia Vassilieva and by Elisabeth Moss. The film is meant to raise questions, challenge our current complacency and our views of the concept or war and military obligation. That it is disturbing is part of the power of the work. Grady Harp, March 08

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Elijah Wood Performance to Date, November 6, 2007

By 

Edward C. Patterson (Allentown, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Day Zero (DVD)

It's 30 days before DAY ZERO, when three friends are to be drafted into the army during the raging war in Iraq. They react to the news and somehow come to terms with reality. On this simple (even thin) premise, Bryan Cole crafts a well balanced 90 minutes, which manages to cloud a specific or biased point-of-view. Sure, there's anti-war clambering and patriotic posturing. There's plenty of flag waving and flag burning, but this film is not about the draft or serving one's country. As a reviewer who has already been drafted to face a war (in Viet-nam) and had to grapple with decisions that would ultimately shape the remainder of my life, I know this film is about "the inner self"--the draft being the catalyst and the reactions mere symptoms to the rumbling of the human spirit or the lack there of.

The three stars carry the film a long way and beyond. Chris Klein as George Rifkin represents the majority view, that the draft is a life interrupter. One never gets the impression that George is a coward. He just wants to continue his law practice, enjoy his family and wife; and ultimately, his anti-draft stance festers from resentment to anger. Jon Bernthal as James Dixon represents the patriotic view, that "it had to happen sooner or later," and everyone should stand up and fight terrorism. He is a violent and disturbed man, short fused and drives a taxi for a living, quite a contrast from George. He imprints his views on his friends without hesitation, but when he meets a girl, his views are somewhat tempered. Elijah Wood, in his best performance on screen to date (yes, even better than Mr. Baggins), plays Aaron Feller, a naïve, fragile man, who has just published his first novel and is working on the second. He is thrown into a panic by the draft notice. He looks for help in all the right places, and doesn't find it. He then looks in all the wrong places, and does. He manages to face his inner demon and takes the appropriate corrective action.

The three friends interact with great chemistry. While Wood carries the film's main theme and presents it with pathos and comedy, the more political and preachy messages come from Klein and Bernthal. Bernthal's raging approach to life is engaging. He is always there for his friends, but not without cost. He chews up the scenery. Klein, on the other hand, gets the more conventional row to hoe, with everything from draft dodger to conscientious objector. He whines and bleats and tears his hair out (figuratively. Wood loses his, literally). Between Bernthal and Klein, we have Macbeth and King Lear, so it is up to Wood to bring the real interest. He crafts his character from thin air, as his scenes are mostly interspersed vignettes that are visually appealing and pathetically comic. In fact, Wood's sense of comedic timing matches the great stars of cinema, like Chaplin. He takes us from entertaining comic relief to riveting drama as Aaron takes a roller coaster ride from naïve to psychosis in 30 days to Day Zero.

This film has only been screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, where I am sure it will win awards and be picked up by a distributor (if not, the film industry is blind). It demonstrates that in the hands of a thinking director, three strong actors can create storms in tea cups. It also provides the viewing audience with Elijah Wood's best of many great performances on celluloid, and for an actor nearing his 40th film, it is a landmark.