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4.0 out of 5 stars
Day zero approaches, December 3, 2008
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.
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Video On Demand ~ Shia LaBeouf
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