Robert De Niro starred in Netflix’s political thriller miniseries De Niro’s best works were in gangster movies, which brought together crime, thriller, and drama, and these continue to be the type of projects he’s mostly drawn to. For his most recent TV project, however, he went for a political thriller.

Zero Day follows George Mullen (De Niro), a popular former President. When a massive cyberattack causes chaos, disasters, and many deaths across the country, Mullen is asked to lead the Zero Day Commission. The purpose of this is to investigate the source of the attack and prevent more chaos, but in the process, Mullen makes some dark and disturbing discoveries within the government. Despite its premise and cast, Zero Day wasn’t well-received by critics and general audiences, but I’m hopeful that De Niro’s next movie can make up for this.

The Alto Knights Looks Like A Thrilling Crime Movie With Two Great Robert De Niro Performances

The Alto Knights Has A Double Dose Of Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro’s next big screen project is The Alto Knights, directed by Barry Levinson and written by Nicholas Pileggi. The Alto Knights takes the audience back to the 1950s to meet Vito Genovese (De Niro), the leader of the Genovese crime family in New York, and Frank Costello (also played by De Niro), crime boss of the Luciano crime family. When Genovese orders a hit on Costello, the latter is wounded but survives, and he decides to retire from the Mafia – but this is a lot easier said than done.

Nicholas Pileggi is the author of Wiseguy and Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas, which were adapted into Martin Scorsese’s movies Goodfellas and Casino.

The Alto Knights shows the tone of the movie, which promises to be packed with action and suspense as tensions between Genovese and Costello quickly rise. Having Barry Levinson is also promising, as he’s behind movies like the war comedy Good Morning, Vietnam and the biographical crime drama Bugsy, so he’s no stranger to gangster stories (and could even bring a healthy dose of well-placed comedy). What makes The Alto Knights even more exciting for me is the double dose of Robert De Niro, and it’s going to be interesting to see him in two different roles in the same movie.

Robert De Niro Was Good In Zero Day, But The Show Didn't Live Up To Expectations

Unfortunately, Zero Day Wasn’t The Success Netflix Expected

Zero Day had everything to be a hit: political thrillers are usually well-received, and with a cast including De Niro, Angela Bassett, Jesse Plemons, Matthew Modine, Lizzy Caplan, Dan Stevens, and more, expectations were high for it. Unfortunately, and while it did enter Netflix’s Top 10 during its first days on the platform, Zero Day fell short. At the time of writing, Zero Day has a 52% critics and audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus being that, despite its cast, the plot is “too goofy” for it to take itself so seriously.

Critics agree that De Niro’s performance is the best part of Zero Day, but also that the plot is messy and convoluted, with the show losing whatever force it had towards its end. Many viewers found the plot of a massive cyberattack, the investigation, and more to be hard to believe, with the show trying too hard to sell it as something serious. On top of that, many criticized the “caricaturesque” characters of Zero Day, who are uninteresting and hard to connect with.

Alto Knights Can Help Robert De Niro Rebound From Zero Day's Disappointment

Alto Knights Has Better Chances Of Succeeding Than Zero Day

Unfortunately, not even Robert De Niro’s performance in Zero Day could save the show, which was quickly forgotten and overshadowed by other Netflix releases – however, The Alto Knights has everything to help De Niro rebound from the failure of Zero Day. The Alto Knights is a return to a very familiar field for De Niro. As mentioned above, he’s best known for his crime and gangster movies, most notably The Godfather Part II, Goodfellas, Casino, and most recently Killers of the Flower Moon.

The Alto Knights has bigger chances of succeeding than Zero Day had, and it will surely attract a wider audience than Zero Day could. Even if The Alto Knights doesn’t succeed with critics and general audiences (which isn’t unlikely), it will most likely perform a lot better than Zero Day, and Robert De Niro’s double performance will get the praise it surely deserves.