Action-Packed Thriller Is a Wild Mess – ryan

Two Americans wind up in Dakar, Senegal, with bombs strapped to their chests. They have 10 hours before the device explodes, with a man’s voice in an earpiece directing their every move. From the get-go, Zero doesn’t hold back. The new action thriller from writer/director Jean Luc Herbulot is smart, sharp, messy, action-packed, and occasionally exhausting. Still, it recalls some of the earlier zaniness of Guy Ritchie films, making it an immediate thrill ride.

Hus Miller, who cowrote the film, stars as Bomb #1 alongside Cam McHarg’s Bomb #2. The fellas separately wind up in Senegal, and immediately find themselves in a truly twisted caper in a country they don’t understand. They have no idea who owns the mysterious voice that’s communicating with them — Willem Dafoe, as effectively as you can imagine — but suddenly, they are desperately racing against time to fulfill the man’s mission. Or die.

“The Voice” forces them to complete a series of missions, meaning that they must team up as the unlikeliest of partners. Along the way, they might just find deeper meaning to their own lives. Big ask… but, it’s 2025 and you have to toss in some depth. Set against a backdrop of populated streets filled with winding corridors and a gaggle of antagonists, Zero has great spunk yet occasionally exhausts itself, and us, in the execution of the story.

The Clock Is Counting Down

Zero

Release Date: April 11, 2025
Runtime: 80 minutes

Cast

Zero follows the tense journey of two Americans who find themselves in Dakar, Senegal, with explosive devices strapped to their bodies. With only ten hours to unravel the mystery, they must navigate dangerous environments and seemingly unrelated clues to discover the reason behind their predicament.

Director: Jean Luc Herbulot

Pros & Cons

Hus Miller and Cam McHarg make a phenomenal action pair.
Jean Luc Herbulot remains a wonderfully kinetic and colorful director.
Relentless action fun.

We’ve seen this narrative before, and the ending is predictable.
The frenetic pace pushes aside the film’s bigger themes.

Zero fits in nicely with a queue of creative cousins like Crank, Phone Booth, Run Lola Run, and Carry On, all of which offer amped-up real-time narratives and claustrophobic settings. “You have five missions,” The Voice tells #1 when we meet him. “You do what I say. Take longer, and you die!” He’s off and running, turning right, then left, sprinting down a corridor as the police chase him. The Voice sees everything, thanks to a handy drone flying overhead. Soon enough, #2 enters the picture, and after some solo “missions,” the fellas venture forth together, like characters being played in a video game.

Some of the missions initially seem inane, others are more focused. Overall, these endeavors hold deeper meaning for The Voice, who is hellbent on “resetting” the world (another video game metaphor) and bringing about some kind of new order. That doesn’t seem to jive all that much in the long run, but there are great thrills in watching these actors race to the finish, as it were.

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Audiences may appreciate the crazy dark humor here. The film packs in as many action sequences, fight scenes, explosions, quick edits, flashbacks, flying bodies — from the explosions, of course — and chase scenes as it can. Shot in crisp colors and featuring some of the wildest spitfire editing you’ll see in a film, the director reveals his artistic side, and makes the city and country a significant character along the way. Look for some historical and cultural lessons to filter in, too. All that, a great supporting cast, and a zippy soundtrack keep everything moving along at breakneck speed.

Birth of a Wild Thriller

The genesis of the project is interesting to note. After making the excellent horror-action film Saloum, which tracked a trio of mercenaries escaping a coup and taking refuge in a remote region on the Saloum river of Senegal, Herbulot teamed up again with Miller, the film’s writer, hoping to explore “what makes Africa, Africa.” The director grew up on the continent with dual nationality, but it made him question the idea of perspective and change, mainly perspective from within and from the outside.

You see, Herbulot felt that Western countries often ostracized poorer countries, especially those in Africa. Most cinematic depictions include wars, hunger, poverty, and disease. But Herbulot knew that the continent was one of the richest in the world when it came to resources. Zero was an opportunity to create a kind of reset of the balance of power — basically back to “zero.”

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The film acts as a love letter to Dakar, Senegal (and a postcard from it). Beyond all the frenzy, there’s a fascinating kaleidoscope of culture, norms, and the country’s inhabitants seen through the eyes of our two foreign protagonists. Our two seemingly innocent fellas here become sought-after criminals and, in turn, reverse the propaganda that the West often perpetuates. That message lands well, but sometimes gets lost in all the chaos swirling around.

Regardless, this is a surprisingly scenic film that is both rich in culture and perspective. The director also saves room for some deeper character development, which offers context about these two men and, perhaps, why they’ve been chosen for this mission. There’s also more than a hint that the men aren’t the only fellas assigned to such gritty tasks, elevating the intrigue.

A Killer Action Duo

As co-screenwriter, Hus Miller knows the material inside and out, giving his portrayal of #1 an extra kick. The writer/actor/producer is surprisingly great leading man material — altogether gritty, sexy, and commanding. If you can imagine a more amped-up Harrison Ford in The Fugitive or a frowning, frazzled Jason Statham, you get the picture. Miller is a good contast to his partner, Cam McHarg’s #2, a character who has sharper edges and doesn’t think twice about smacking the crap out of anybody. Basically: act first, think later.

Together, they’re an excellent screen pair, on par with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover from the early days of Lethal Weapon or Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze from Point Break. Looking back, those two films seem much tamer than the ones being cranked out in the 2020s, where everybody seems to be jonesing for the next dopamine hit. You’ll get them here aplenty, even if it’s at the cost of a larger point. Miller and McHarg command the screen in this fun, frenetic, messy, action-packed thriller. It will leave you breathless. And that ending. You may see it coming, but bravo. Zero premieres in theaters on April 11 from Well Go USA.