A good tandem of actors, but what else? Review of the series Black Rabbit

Sometimes, a few big names are enough to get a new series off the ground. In the case of Netflix's Black Rabbit, this recipe seemed to be perfect: a duo of Jude Law and Jason Bateman in the lead roles, screenwriter Zai Beilin, behind the successful King Richard, and a dark criminal atmosphere in New York. The project had every chance of becoming a new hit for the streaming service, but instead turned into a vivid example of how even outstanding acting cannot save a mediocre and secondary script.

The plot introduces us to the Friedken brothers. Jake (Jude Law) is a successful owner of the trendy New York restaurant Black Rabbit, who is trying to make the deal of his life and expand his business. He is the personification of success, although behind the shiny facade lies financial fragility. His world begins to collapse when his brother Vince (Jason Bateman) returns to town - a gambler, drug addict and just a loser who attracts problems like a magnet. Vince's old debts to a dangerous mobster (Troy Kotsur) instantly become Jake's problems, and the brothers plunge into a whirlpool of blackmail, betrayal and violence, from which there seems to be no way out.

The main and perhaps the only reason why Black Rabbit is worth watching at all is the acting duo of Lowe and Bateman. The chemistry between them is simply incredible. They brilliantly convey all the complexity of toxic family relationships: mutual resentments, disappointments, but at the same time a deep, irrational connection that forces one brother to save the other again and again.

Jude Law is a masterful actor who plays a man whose carefully constructed life is falling apart, while Jason Bateman gives one of the best performances of his career, playing a pathetic but charismatic loser. Their scenes together, full of tense dialogue and untold stories, are the true beauty of the series. Troy Kotsura is particularly noteworthy, as he creates a frightening and magnetic image in his role, although his screen time is, unfortunately, extremely limited.

However, as soon as the focus shifts from the main characters, the whole structure begins to fall apart. The series' script is a tiresome collection of all possible clichés of the "crime drama about men in crisis" genre. It has it all: debts to the mafia, dangerous Russians, corrupt lawyers, femme fatale, problems with the father in the past. The story does not offer a single original idea or unexpected twist, moving along a long-familiar and predictable path. This second nature is especially disappointing against the backdrop of such giants of the genre as The Sopranos or Ozark, where familiar tropes were played with much more inventively.

Another problem with the show is its pacing and timing. A story that could easily be 5-6 hours long is stretched across eight long episodes. Because of this, the series often "sags", repeating the same situations: Vince messes up again, Jake saves him again, their enemies threaten again. Numerous side storylines, such as romantic interests or the problems of the restaurant staff, feel like artificial filler and do not receive proper development, and the secondary characters remain flat "cardboard" to advance the plot.

The characters in the series are hard to empathize with, which is critical for any dramatic work. Both main characters are deeply antipathetic and selfish individuals. And while "antiheroes" have long become the new norm, the creators of Black Rabbit seem to forget that even Tony Soprano or Walter White had traits that aroused at least some sympathy or interest from the audience. Here we watch two unpleasant people do bad things and suffer the consequences. It's an exhausting experience, devoid of catharsis or meaning. The gloomy, dull picture and slow, meditative pace only reinforce this sense of hopelessness.

Black Rabbit is a series that aspired to take its place among the stars, but collapsed almost on takeoff. It is a benefit for two outstanding actors who deserve all possible awards. But at the same time it is a boring, drawn-out and painfully secondary crime drama that cannot offer anything except familiar clichés. Perhaps for the most devoted fans of the genre and the mentioned actors this is enough, but for the rest of the audience it will be a difficult test that does not justify the time spent.