Two Americans wake up in Dakar with bombs strapped to their chests and told that they have ten hours in which to complete certain tasks or else they will be killed. This results in a mad dash across the city.
On the face of it ZERO is a great action film that mixes fantastic action sequences with some very funny lines. It’s a dark film that carries us along from the first frame to the last.
The problem with the film is that it is a bit bleak and obtuse for it’s own good. The film’s mysterious voice (Willem Dafoe) talks about all sorts of great deeds and the like, but I don’t think we ever see it. The film is ultimately a mad man toying with a several people while causing mayhem along the way. It was fun until I realize that there wasn’t going to be a happy ending.
As a film in the genre of people having to complete various tasks by a certain time, this film is really good. Actually its one of the best to come along in the last decade or so. The problem here is that the motivation behind the task is kind of muddy. The film, thanks to the stinger at the end, wants to be a kind of a spin on the SAW franchise. It irks me that the film has to lean back of things that went before when it’s clear that everything else connected with the film is top of the line and had the film been more logical with the plotting it would have been one of the best of 2024.
As it stands ow it’s a really good, if rather bleak, action film.
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