: Instead of focusing on the battlefield, the movie centers on three friends with different backgrounds—a lawyer, a taxi driver, and a writer—who have 30 days to report for duty.
The film is often described as a psychological exploration of duty and fear, set in a hypothetical America where the military draft has been reinstated. Day Zero
: Reviewers frequently compare it to the Vietnam era, though the film consciously avoids direct political commentary on the War on Terror. Some critics found the film's ending to be fatalistic, suggesting that the only choices in the face of a "useless war" are cowed acceptance or death. : Instead of focusing on the battlefield, the