Zeros and Ones | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)

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Where to Watch Zeros and Ones What to Know Critics Reviews Audience Reviews My Rating Cast & Crew More Like This Videos Zeros and Ones Photos Zeros and Ones References

54%

Tomatometer

54 Reviews

Popcornmeter

100+ Ratings

Ethan Hawke (Training Day) and director Abel Ferrara (Bad Lieutenant) join forces for this gritty, tense political-thriller set on one deadly night in Rome. Called to the city to stop an imminent terrorist bombing, soldier J.J. (Hawke) desperately seeks news of his imprisoned rebel brother, Justin (also Hawke), who holds knowledge that could thwart the attack. Navigating the capital's darkened streets, J.J. races to a series of ominous encounters, hoping to keep the Vatican from being blown to bits.

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Zeros and Ones

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Critics Consensus

Zeros and Ones is poorly lit and beset by narrative chaos, but Ethan Hawke's passionate performance is a solid fit for Abel Ferrara's intriguingly idiosyncratic storytelling.

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Critics Reviews

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Anton Bitel

Little White Lies

a prickly, difficult, even impenetrable mash-up of archetypes and ideas, all wrapped up in the nonsensical intrigues of genre cinema while reaching outward towards something bigger beyond.

Apr 4, 2022

Full Review

Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

It’s minor work – but there is always something there, some restless wounded intelligence, a pugnacious worrying-away at something.

Rated: 3/5

Mar 2, 2022

Full Review

Max Maller

Chicago Reader

The paradoxical need for a would-be redeemer of humanity to know sin at first hand animates the film all the way down, from Hawke's passionate performance on through to the kinetics of Ferrara and Williams's seedy roving camera.

Nov 24, 2021

Full Review

D.M. Palmer

Vague Visages

An atmospheric but disjointed no-budget thriller. The war thriller is pretty underwhelming fare, but its mere existence attests to the tenacity of its creator.

Nov 9, 2023

Full Review

Pablo O. Scholz

Clarín

Though ideas abound in the film, they lack a connective tissue... [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 3/4

Apr 24, 2023

Full Review

Juan Pablo Russo

EscribiendoCine

Zeros and Ones is difficult to decipher; the film's narrative logic seems to emerge from the music that remains constant from beginning to end. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 5/10

Apr 5, 2023

Full Review

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Audience Reviews

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Steve C Hawke admits he didn't understand the film in the post credit interview....ok, glad I am not the only one. Rated 1.5/5 Stars • Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 12/07/24 Full Review Steve S Fucking awful and impossible to follow along. Ridiculous that this movie was even made. Rated 0.5/5 Stars • Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 10/30/24 Full Review Kevin H An attempt at film noir, okay. Visually there's a lot wrong, starting with extreme low light in all but final scenes, he is carrying a SONY high res video camera that can shoot in 4K and we get less than 720 standard res for video? Contrast maxed out, fluorescing colors, bad focus, dirty lens! Audio was muffled with unclear diction.The plot? What plot? I agree Hawke filled his script shoes well, but the promo first scene was off putting and now I know why... Rated 1/5 Stars • Rated 1 out of 5 stars 10/16/24 Full Review Audience Member I began wide awake and optimistic. I dozed mid way, slapped myself awake and back tracked but clarity and light, especially light, never came. I could feel my brain curdling and couldn't make sense of it. I had to find something mindless, bright, with plenty of light. So no I don't recommend it. Rated 0.5/5 Stars • Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 04/20/24 Full Review Mike B No action. Dark all the time, saving energy use? No dislogue. Waste of time watching this. Rated 0.5/5 Stars • Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 01/25/24 Full Review Jeanette H Horrible! Didn't understand anything from start to finish! Very hard to follow! Rated 0.5/5 Stars • Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 07/24/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Zeros and Ones

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Cast & Crew

Abel Ferrara Director Ethan Hawke J.J. Cristina Chiriac Actor Valerio Mastandrea Actor Babak Karimi Actor Phil Neilson Actor

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Zeros and Ones

Zeros and Ones: Trailer 1

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Zeros and Ones

Zeros and Ones (2021)

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Synopsis Ethan Hawke (Training Day) and director Abel Ferrara (Bad Lieutenant) join forces for this gritty, tense political-thriller set on one deadly night in Rome. Called to the city to stop an imminent terrorist bombing, soldier J.J. (Hawke) desperately seeks news of his imprisoned rebel brother, Justin (also Hawke), who holds knowledge that could thwart the attack. Navigating the capital's darkened streets, J.J. races to a series of ominous encounters, hoping to keep the Vatican from being blown to bits.

Director: Abel Ferrara
Producer: Philipp Kreuzer, Diana Phillips
Screenwriter: Abel Ferrara
Distributor: Lionsgate
Production Co: Macaia Film, Maze Pictures, Rimsky Productions, Hammerstone Studios, Almost Never Films Inc.
Rating: R (Drug Content|Bloody Images|Language|Sexual Material|Some Violence)
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Drama, War
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 19, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 19, 2021
Runtime: 1h 26m

References

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/zeros_and_ones