Zero, 2024.
Directed by Jean Luc Herbulot.
Starring Hus Miller, Cam McHarg, Gary Dourdan, Roger Sallah, and Willem Dafoe.
SYNOPSIS:
Two Americans end up in Dakar, Senegal with bombs strapped to their chests and ten hours to find out why.
Zero is the latest film from Jean Luc Herbulot, the Congolese director behind the acclaimed genre bender Saloum (2021). He once again shows that he is a skillful and promising filmmaker to watch. Zero and Saloum are both good films, but they are also signals that Herbulot might just have a great film to deliver in the future if he refines his storytelling a bit.
Hus Miller plays an American man known only as One. He wakes up on a bus in Dakar with a bomb strapped to his chest. He is ordered by a voice on an earpiece (a menacing and dryly funny Willem Dafoe) to carry out five missions for him. One soon meets up with Two (Cam McHarg), another bomb-carrying victim, and the two must work together as they try to complete the missions and prevent explosions.
Herbulot’s film begins as a simple huff-and-puff thriller, but it eventually becomes more disjointed and heavy-handed as various plot threads and mouthpiece characters for political discourse enter the picture. While the messages are obvious, the steps to get to them can be messy at times as Herbulot introduces information at a breakneck pace. One and Two clearly represent the wealth and violence that America controls other nations with, but Herbulot mistakenly underlines this with a character named Daniel (Gary Dourdan) who practically scolds the audience.
Despite its occasionally chaotic storytelling, Zero is still a stylish and entertaining ride. Herbulot gives each scene energy and bursts of color (lots of bright tracksuits are used), and he makes fine use of overhead drone shots and the Dakar settings. The percussion-heavy music score by James BKS helps Herbulot give the film a constant pulse. One particular scene involving an explosion and guys flying into the air in slow motion is a gem.
Miller and McHarg bounce off of each other well as One and Two. The former is a ball of anxiety while the latter is more cool and efficient. However, unsurprisingly, Dafoe is the standout. The actor is never seen on screen but his character’s watching eye is always felt. Dafoe could have tossed out his lines with little care, but he instead delivers them with authority and precision.
Zero is a slight step down from Saloum, but its still an impressive enough project from Herbulot. It provides plenty of humor, thrills, and flashy visuals. With a tidier script and less preaching it could have been excellent.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Daniel Rester is a freelance film critic and a member of the Hollywood Creative Alliance. He holds a bachelor’s degree with a double major in Film/TV and Emerging Media and Digital Arts.
