Day Zero (2008)

Three best friends George (Chris Klein) a successful lawyer Dixon (Jon Bernthal) a tough-as-nails cab driver and Feller (Elijah Wood) a writer with a host of insecurities are drafted and given 30 days to report for duty. In that time they're forced to confront everything they believe about courage duty love friendship and honor.System Requirements:Running Time: 95 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/MILITARY & WAR Rating: NR UPC: 687797121691 Manufacturer No: FLP-12169 Product Description

"DAY ZERO" MOVIE REVIEW BY MICHAEL ELLIANO

Though provoking movie on how each of three men respond to a modern day draft. All are friends and have 30 days to report with each having new or different reasons not to want to go and some looking for a way out. This is a tough movie because as a Vet I have little sympathy for dodging a draft. None tried to do that but one thinks of it. Although this movie is very political it stays away from the actual war in Iraq, our government, and the protestors and allows each man to come to his own internal terms with being drafted. You will have something to think about after watching this. Enjoy the movie. March 26, 2008

An honest movie

Day zero is a great movie. It is a complex, emotional and yet still honest look at a diverse group of friends and their nuanced reactions to the (hopefully unlikely) consequence of the reinstatement of the draft.

There have been a number of "911 films" made in the last couple of years and, for the most part, they either played the "conspiracy theory" card or the "our brave heros" card. This movie looks at ordinary people, doesn't take a particular political stance, and helped me imagine what it would be like to go through the experience.

I would strongly recommend this movie to just about anyone, with the very minor caveat that it is not a feel-good movie - it is a real look at a very charged situation, so watch it when you are ready to do so, but definately watch it. March 13, 2008

Day Zero - Excellent Thought-provoking Film That Deserves A Wide Audience

Day Zero

CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS!

Despite anything you may have read in any
review..watch this film for yourself. It's worth it.

Day Zero

First off it's beautifully filmed. You would never guess it had such a
low budget. Well thought out shots and camera angles. Excellent use of
close ups of everyone. Their faces tell the story.

It's not entirely about war but about unprepared young men being
blind-sided by being drafted unexpectedly into a war they are unsure
of. Even Jon Bernthal's seemingly gung ho character isn't as sure of
what he wants as he first appears. He has too much heart and love for
other people. He's a genuinely good guy. What will fighting in a real
war and seeing it's horrifying atrocities do to his kind soul? He might
fight and survive but he won't come back the same man. He may have a
load of guilt that he will never be able to shake. Ideals shattered.
Nobility in shreds. His is the most clearly exposed character and has
the most screen time. He's very good. A new DiNero.

Chris Kline also was good and understated but you can see everything he
feels and how torn he his. To leave his cancer survivor wife that he
loves dearly. To abandon his career as a successful lawyer. To fight in
a war he does not believe is right. Or submit to a draft he believes
deprives people of their civil rights and due process of law. A solid
quiet and painful l portrayal.

Then of course Aaron..Elijah. Poor sad outcast Aaron. A person who
cannot even be his own friend. A person self-isolated and despite some
interesting life-experiences (the post grad trip to Malaysia) sadly
naive. He is locked within his own self-destructive psyche. If he
doesn't love and respect himself how can anyone else? Still he has
strong bonds with Bernthal and Kline. They get him. They might tease
him but they understand him and they are his friends and the only ones
who care about him. Elijah is very good. He shows Aaron's pathetic
shock at having his fragile life invaded by that draft notice. He is
completely unprepared for any kind of combat. Why he never considers
getting a psych discharge is surprising. He would have easily gotten
one. I knew a guy almost just like him back during Vietnam who was so
emotionally wrecked that although he braved two weeks of boot camp he
disintegrated so badly the army gladly sent him right home. The army
would have done the same for Aaron, I'm sure! But the poor thing never
sees this. Making us wonder if he truly sees himself clearly at all. He
does have talent as a writer. Something perfectly suited for his loner
psychological make-up. He was NOT a fraud as he thought. He took a folk
tale and enlarged on it for his book. Last time I looked that wasn't a
crime. Authors take such things as inspiration all the time. It was not
fraud. Aaron never sees his strengths. He just loathes himself and then
when it seems Dixon is disgusted with him after that mis-adventure with
the pimp, he really starts to come apart.

The head-shaving is a brilliant dissolving into psychosis scene. His
hair really was buzzed off and he still stayed 100% in character. That
is enormous credit to his professionalism.

When he calls his sister and she just blows him off it is the final
break for him. He can't see that his friends care. That they would help
him if he would let them. He is lost within his own madness. He cannot
see beyond it. His final decision is so sad because he feels he is
vindicating himself and freeing himself. That last smile of his, his
only real smile in the movie, is chilling. And for anyone who has ever
been there and felt anything like that it resonates deeply.

I love how he found this character and made him different from anyone
else he has played. His Depp-titude is becoming more and more apparent.
The little nervous tick of his cheek. The not-quite smiles. His
ineptness around women. ( Best line..."Maybe later." ) His descent into
madness. Elijah has talent in spades.

The supporting cast is all very good too. I love the young blonde
girl,Sofia Vassilieva, who loves Dixon. She just breaks my heart. An
actress to watch, I'm sure we'll see lots more of her. His older
girlfriend,Elisabeth Moss, is good, too. Ginnifer Goodwin is pretty
good but perhaps not quite the best.

All this comes down to why this wonderful, intelligent film got the
cold shoulder. Well of course it's never been PC to even appear
anti-war. But the thing is that's not really what this movie is about.
It's about how war effects different types of people and how they deal
with it. It doesn't tell you what to do it just makes you think what
you MIGHT do in the same situation.

What one thought did I take away primarily? War demolishes lives. Rich, poor, here, there.... it touches everyone to the core and no one remains the same.


It's a good film that deserves a wide audience. I hope very much it picks up on DVD and TV the interest it should have.
March 3, 2008

What if the Draft were Reinstated?

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 March 3, 2008

Day zero approaches

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. March 3, 2008

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