An ensemble cast over the course of 17 countries in the age of Zoom highlight this thriller from producer-director Rick Dugdale.

At the height of his fame, world renowned technology expert Finlay Hart suffered loss when his wife died while pregnant with their son Sam, who had not been in Finlay’s life since birth. Things only got worse for Finlay when he is ousted from his company for creating and taking part in a top-secret data mining initiative. When Finlay dies from cancer, his son Sam, along with four of Finlay’s former workers are given a task.

Joining Sam are former attorney Veronica, former IT expert Trevor, board member Hakan, and fellow tech expert Riku. The five are given passwords that will restart Finlay’s data-mining initiative, known as the Quantinuum Initiative. When Hakan hears a noise in his place, he is attacked by an assailant and if offline. The others start to panic and as Sam draws closer to the truth, the shocking discovery of what the initiative involves has force certain people to try to stop the Initiative from happening. Sam and the others soon find themselves forced to make a decision that could either revolutionize or destroy the future of the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic had taken its toll on the film industries worldwide. However, for producer-director Rick Dugdale and writer Cam Cannon, it only became an inspiration for an idea. When Zoom came into the picture, the filmmakers had a great idea for a movie. A film in which the actors would correspond with each other via Zoom and involve the possibility of a conspiracy involving a tech giant who may have possibly stumbled upon the idea of time travel. This may seem like an impossible mission, but this is one “mission” that succeeded.

The cast is great. While he comes in sporadically, the legendary Anthony Hopkins once again shows why he is exactly that, a legend, in the role of the late tech giant Finlay Hart. Chris Brochu also pulls off an excellent performance as Finlay’s estranged son Sam, who finds himself at the center of his late father’s initiative, not even knowing the full details out. And yet, he tends to figure things out in a Sherlock Holmes kind of manner. As he gets closer to the truth, he somehow finds himself closer to the man he never considered his father.

Aleks Paunovic, Veronica Ferres, TJ Kayama, and Martin Stenmarck round out the cast as the other four agents involved in the Initiative and whether to follow suit and restart it or not to. This causes conflict between the five as some are all ready to follow Finlay’s wishes while others are skeptical. However, Hakan’s death becomes the trigger for more sinister things that occur. Each of these four are headstrong and the actors’ performances elevate the film along with the actors who play some of their loved ones. They include Rukiya Bernard as Trevor’s wife Taylor, who is waiting for him to join her for dinner and up-and-coming newcomer Lilly Krug as Veronica’s daughter. During the third act, we see more of Sam’s wife played by Alison Kostic as Sam tries to decipher what Finlay had intended and why people want to get rid of them.

And if that’s not great enough, back-to-back sequels are in production with the second film in the franchise to be the 1st feature film to be shot in the real Antarctica!

Zero Contact is a successful impossible mission that showed that despite the pandemic, new ways to make movies can happen and this is living proof. This is one film any aspiring filmmaker should check out as its gripping, intense, and all done with the use of Zoom!

WFG RATING: A-

Lionsgate and Grindstone Entertainment presents an Enderby Pictures production. Director: Rick Dugdale. Producers: Rick Dugdale, Cam Cannon, and Peter Toumasis. Writer: Cam Cannon. Cinematography: Edd Lukas. Editing: Håkan Karlsson.

Cast: Chris Brochu, Anthony Hopkins, Aleks Paunovic, Veronica Ferres, Martin Stenmarck, TJ Kayama, Rukiya Bernard, Alison Kostic, Lilly Krug, Osman Aboubakr.

The film will be released in select theaters, On Demand, and Digital on May 27.