‘Black Rabbit’ Review – An Undercooked Thriller With Good Performances

Zach Baylin has been responsible for penning some incredible scripts over the last few years, including Creed III, King Richard, and The Order. His latest project sees him team with the powerhouse duo of Jason Bateman and Jude Law to bring the Netflix limited series Black Rabbit. The series is set in New York City nightlife, where one brother’s rise is halted by the demise of his brother. The series is a thrilling and daunting look at how far family will go for one another.

Jake Friedken (Jude Law) was throwing a party at a club where he had hundreds of thousands of dollars of jewelry on display. During the party, a group of men snuck in through the back to break into the safe to steal the jewelry, but it was inside. The robbers take one of the workers hostage and storm into the club, requesting all the jewelry. After a face-to-face with one of the men, the series transitions to a month before the robbery. 

As for Vince Friedken (Jason Bateman), things couldn’t get any worse. Unlike his brother, Jake, Vince is stuck in a whirlwind of trouble that he can’t get himself out of. Consistently gambling away every dollar he owes and has, he has returned to town to ask Vince for some money. As a result of their mother’s passing, Jake sold her house and agreed to give Vince his share of the money, but he has to stick around in town until the deal goes through. 

The script doesn’t reinvent the wheel by any stretch of the imagination. It feels very much like something we have seen before. Your prototypical man down on his luck then enters his brother, who on the surface is running a successful business and living the high life. However, it’s more than meets the eye, as he is in over his head and barely can help himself, let alone his brother. 

Another thing the script suffers from is having far too much going on. As you unpack the many layers of the brothers, there are many other ancillary pieces starting to unfold that make it slightly convoluted. When the series reaches that home stretch, everything begins to feel rushed to tidy up the end. 

That said, the run-of-the-mill script is elevated by the star power of Jude Law and Jason Bateman. The duo plays brothers who go toe-to-toe battling their internal dilemma while attempting to stave off the enemies at hand. When you have these two leading the charge, you expect good things. Bateman and Law have several scenes where they deliver powerful monologues that do a good job of keeping you invested in their storyline. While these two knock it out of the ballpark, I do wish that the script stayed a little more in building that depth instead of the rest. 

Another great casting decision was having Academy Award winner Troy Kotsur play Joe Mancuso, one of the villains. You have to appreciate the inclusion of the deaf community. But for me, the idea of him playing the villain made it even more special. The character wasn’t a ploy or a piece of the puzzle; he was THE guy, and they made it inclusive by having him and those around him use sign language. Unfortunately, while Kotsur was great as this bad guy, we simply didn’t get enough of him on our screen. 

Ultimately, the pros do outweigh the cons, making Black Rabbit a solid thriller carried by a strong cast. You can never go wrong with Jude Law and Jason Bateman leading a series. But if we are to get another season of the show, I would hope to get more focus on the brothers than we do on the stories that didn’t matter. Otherwise, this might be a show that Netflix can leave in the past.