HBO Max's 'DMZ' Review: Rosario Dawson, Ava DuVernay dish out riveting dystopian drama
What sets 'DMZ' apart from most dystopian dramas is the fact that the HBO Max series comes ridiculously close to recreating what a battle and bullet-ridden America. It's dark, it's worn down, and there's blood on the streets. In most cases, hope in a dystopian world is scary, yet invigorating, and that's the formula 'DMZ' works on. Based on the comic series of the same name by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli, the Rosario Dawson-starrer is bold, gripping, and filled with intrigue.
Dawson is Alma Ortega who later takes on the name Zee and is a med student. It's an alternate future that's left the US in tatters after a second American civil war. As a result, Manhattan becomes a demilitarized zone between the US and the Free States of America. There's a ceasefire in effect, but the DMZ is pretty much a grenade waiting to go off. It starts will Zee looking for her son, Christian (Freddy Miares) who gets lost during the Manhattan evacuation and she comes back to the DMZ in search of her son after she unsuccessfully searches for him in the USA and FSA.
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Things come to a head when she's caught in a crossfire between two rival gangs led by men who she was involved with. Parco Delgado (Benjamin Bratt) is her ex-husband and a Latin man in control of half the city and there's Wilson (Hoon Lee), a man running Chinatown who worked with Zee at a medical clinic. In most ways, the show is about sacrifice with most characters giving up what matters most. Their trauma and struggle for survival, and power while at it becomes the story over the course of the four episodes even as Zee hunts and wades through insurmountable odds.
At the heart of it, 'DMZ' is a socio-political thriller. The world-building and in-depth fleshing of characters make it a compelling watch. The DMZ is a world within itself and Ava DuVernay, directing the pilot delves into the nitty-gritty of a wrecked world. If anything, the show, like most comic books questions the concept of order and hierarchy in a broken world, especially when resurrection would need a lot more than just guns and gang wars.
Dawson's Zee is perhaps the perfect casting as her half-cocky and dogged determination takes her through every situation, no matter the odds. Matthew J. Lloyd's cinematography shows that a DMZ is possible in the near future and that's something that leaves a skid mark as the end credits roll. 'DMZ' is promising, hopeful, and well-thought-out. It's pacy and deep at the same time, and for that, the dystopian thriller deserves a watch.
'DMZ' is available for streaming on HBO Max.