Netflix’s Black Rabbit, the eight-part crime thriller that premiered on September 27, 2025, has divided audiences from the jump, with Jude Law and Jason Bateman delivering a gritty, star-powered saga that’s being hailed as a “blockbuster” by fans but shredded by critics as “soulless” and “hard to watch.” Directed by David Mackenzie (Hell or High Water), the series follows ex-con brothers Eddie (Law) and Tommy Rabbit (Bateman), who reunite after 15 years to pull off a high-stakes heist in their rust-belt hometown, only to unravel a web of family secrets, corporate greed, and moral decay. While X fans rave about its “visceral tension” and “unputdownable pace,” scoring it 85% audience approval on Rotten Tomatoes, critics are brutal, averaging 42% with The Guardian calling it “miserable, undercooked, and impossible to care about.” So, is Black Rabbit the sleeper hit Netflix banked on, or a misfire that proves star power can’t save a sloppy script?

Law’s Eddie, a slick but shattered ex-con with a gambling debt, clashes with Bateman’s volatile Tommy, a family man teetering on rage, as they target a corrupt mill owner’s vault. The brothers’ fraught dynamic, laced with flashbacks to their abusive childhood, anchors the show, with Law’s brooding intensity and Bateman’s simmering fury crackling in every scene. Supporting turns from Rosamund Pike as the mill owner’s icy wife and Boyd Holbrook as a crooked cop add layers of menace, while Mackenzie’s moody cinematography turns the decaying Midwest into a character of quiet desperation. Fans binge it in one sitting, tweeting, “Edge-of-your-seat from minute one—2025’s hidden gem!” but detractors like Variety’s Owen Gleiberman slam its “predictable plot holes” and “tone-deaf class commentary.”

The series’ exploration of redemption and rust-belt rage resonates amid economic divides, surging to Netflix’s Top 10 in the U.S. and UK. While some call it “visually stunning but emotionally hollow,” most praise the duo’s chemistry, with one X user gushing, “Law and Bateman are dynamite—this is Hell or High Water TV!” At 42 minutes per episode, Black Rabbit is a quick, if divisive, binge. Stream it now before the backlash buries it—love it or loathe it, this thriller’s conversation starter of the year.