Movie Review: 'Zero' is an Unusual Showcase for Willem Dafoe

Zero

Directed by Jean Luc Herbulot

Written by Jean Luc Herbulot

Starring Willem Dafoe, Hus Miller, Cam McHarg, Gary Dourdan

Release Date April 11th, 2025

Published April 15th, 2025

Imagine you wake up on a bus in a foreign country with no memory of how you got here. Disorienting, right? Now imagine you have a bomb strapped to your chest. That’s the situation that the protagonist of the new thriller Zero finds himself in. Played by Hus Miller, we will eventually learn many things about this man but not his name or why he specifically was selected to be a human bomb, This information will be parceled out by a voice in this man’s ear, the hissing, seething, and undeniable voice of an unnamed terrorist played by Willem Dafoe.

Our man who we will come to know as Number 1 is not the only human bomb racing against time through the streets of Dakar, the capital of the African nation of Senegal. Number 2 is a tough guy, a former Los Angeles bank robber, whose small fortune of stolen money is being held hostage until he completes a series of tasks that will bring him into contact with Number 1. Eventually, these two strangers will have to navigate some of the most dangerous areas of Dakar while being delivered to meetings with a brazen criminal element and surviving only by their wits.

All the while, the bombs strapped to Number 1 and Number 2 are counting down. When the countdown reaches zero, they die. Each is motivated by our unseen villain, Dafoe, via blackmail and the vague notion that they have a chance to survive if they follow orders. But that is actually never a guarantee. Indeed, they may follow all of the instructions in detail and they still might get blown up. They will definitely die if they try to remove their bomb vests as an ever present drone hovers over their heads relaying their actions back to their unseen assailant.

Zero is a pulse pounder with a terrific premise and a wonderful location. The clockwork precise plot adds to the tension, even as the main characters aren’t particularly compelling in and of themselves. Our bomb laden protagonists are thinly crafted on purpose but the lack of a true human connection to these two men, who are also low life criminals, limits our involvement in the movie. It’s a thrilling movie because we can’t guess what is going to happen next but our emotional investment is limited.

Willem Dafoe is an inspired piece of voice casting. We never see his face but that rasp is undeniable. You feel like you can see that wide and often terrifying grin. Dafoe’s talent for baddie characters is a huge part of the appeal of Zero as you can hear Dafoe licking his lips and making a meal of every bit of bad guy dialogue in Zero. He also has a distinct and terrifying purpose that he pieces out throughout the film. Naturally, moments arrive where you are led to believe he’s been outsmarted but, of course, he hasn’t. He’s 10 steps ahead at every moment of Zero and his every line of dialogue makes your heart drop when he demonstrates his astonishing omnipotence.

When Dafoe’s full plan is revealed it’s a gut punch and the final moments of the film, moments that leave the confines of Dakar, provide one last ingenious shock to the movie. Dafoe is never seen on screen but he’s ever present. His persona looms large enough that he can be the star of the film without physically appearing in it. That’s just great acting from an actor who knows that he has cultivated a persona and connection to audiences that he can exploit as he pleases. Credit to writer-director Jean-Luc Herbulot for the savvy choice as well, he clearly recognized that not just any actor could pull off a performance of this complexity with just their voice and reputation.

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