Critic Reviews

It’s a riveting and devastating ride, anchored by some of the most mercurial performances you’ll see on TV this year. Tumbling into the Friedkins’ shadowy burrow can be harrowing at times, but it’s a fall worth taking when you have Vince and Jake waiting at the bottom.

Not every beat always lands—the middle stretch can circle its ideas a little too insistently—but the overall impact is clear. Between Bateman’s dirtbaggy, persuasive, career-best performance, Law’s weary precision, the suffocating direction, and Bensi and Jurriaans’ unforgettable score, “Black Rabbit” stands as one of Netflix’s most striking originals in recent memory.

Above all, what Black Rabbit demonstrates more than anything might be one of the rarest qualities in any modern streaming series, especially on Netflix – artistic vision and care. The various minute visual details and narrative subtleties will reward attentive viewers with an array of plants and payoffs.

Well-crafted thriller, and a reminder of just how good an actor — and director — Bateman is.

Netflix has been searching for a dark crime drama to rival Ozark since it ended in 2022 and while this can’t quite match the Byrde family’s messy life in Missouri, bringing Bateman back into the fold has helped it pull a fine new (black) rabbit out of the hat.

It isn’t in the same league [as Ozark and Breaking Bad], but it’s worth your time.

The series is eminently watchable, at times even addictive. This is largely due to the chemistry of Jason Bateman, who channels his smarm into Vince’s consummate dirtbag, and Jude Law, who fills Jake with a puffed-up swagger that can’t keep the hell hounds off his trail.

A gripping saga of loyalty and self-destructiveness that’s elevated by riveting performances from Bateman and Jude Law. [But] be prepared to turn your television’s brightness settings way up.

The writing and the pacing of “Black Rabbit” during the appetizer portion of the program are solid enough that one will want to stick around for dessert, though there’s quite a bit of filler, too: A storyline that should become more taut as the Jake-Vince fable unfolds—and secrets are disclosed, and motives are explained—slackens considerably, though likely not enough to turn anyone off. The cast is uniformly convincing.

Black Rabbit may get lost in its own unrelenting pace, but it manages to deliver a satisfying, albeit devastating, conclusion that feels frighteningly true to life.