Why Jason Bateman's performance in 'Black Rabbit' is his best work yet
Heartbreaking, charismatic, and all-together a tour-de-force piece of work.
“I wish I could slow down.”
“Now you can.”
More often than not, Jason Bateman would have portrayed the Jude Law role in the new Netflix television series, Black Rabbit. The straight man, aka protagonist, who walks the easier line with his story arc and offers little surprises in most cases. He would have played Jake well and given the role some depth, but it wouldn’t be as challenging as the role of Jake’s brother, Vince.
He’s the wrecking ball at the heart of Zach Baylin and Kate Susman’s story of two brothers who wheel and deal their fates and fortunes around New York City with deadly consequences. Bateman doesn’t just phone in the role of a chaotic brother who seems to suck everything up in Jake’s life and spit it out broken, but leans into the background of our anti-hero. No matter what Vince gets himself and others into, you can’t take your eyes off him or stop rooting for him.
Baylin and Susman flesh out Jake and Vince’s past as the eight episode series ages, showing a complicated childhood that revolved around a family-changing tragedy. When you realize what Bateman’s character has gone through and what he sees in his successful brother, it fills in the blanks of the reasons an audience needs to build empathy for Vince. The actor has enough wit and charm to bulldoze his way through a performance, but he gives this poor soul something deeper.
It’s not a spoiler to say that the show, which is weeks old now, doesn’t end the way one would assume. There isn’t a huge blaze of action glory or an overwrought conclusion to a juicy tale. What takes place harkens to depression, the past digging its claws into a person for life, and the humanity of a connection that’s more valuable than any bullet.
Everything that happens in the show isn’t forced or contrived. Instead, it’s natural and heartbreaking. A lot of that execution is owed to the writing and the cast. While Law and Troy Kotsur are very good as is everybody on the call sheet, no one shines brighter than Bateman, the comedy star-turned serious actor who is taking more chances. His half-baked bad guy from Carry On pales in comparison to his construction of Vince.
Calling Vince Friedkin (I wonder if the writers loved the late director) a troubled soul only explains the first page. He starts off as a ticking timebomb who brings his debt and greedy decision-making skills to the Big Apple at the onset of the series, right when Jake is set to expand his restaurant/club into a bigger and more prestigious space. By the end, when the arc is complete, you have a whole new look at Vince and what makes him tick.
SPOILER ALERT TIME--DON’T READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED
The quote at the top of the page is from the last episode. The climax of the series sees Jake pull a magic card out of the deck and arrange safe transport for his brother after a robbery goes bad at his restaurant. Right when the ultimate people-user has a free ride out of death or worse, Vince decides to do something else.
After witnessing the carnage that stemmed from his mistakes, he has an epiphany as Jake is desperately looking for a safe ending. The realization is that he is someone who costs people their livelihood and/or lives. A bad seed who makes things worse… the epitome of Murphy’s Law being personified in human form.
When he sees it, the last thing on our minds is that it’s going to result in what eventually happens. When Jake finds out Vince called the police and confessed to everything, a jail sentence seemed like a fitting end. It’s when the camera pans away from Bateman and stays on Law as Jake imagines a future where he can take more breaks and not have to push so hard for opportunities that the unthinkable happens.
As Jake mentions the desire to slow down, the camera suddenly pulls out and we see Vince on the ledge of the building where they opened a restaurant together. After he quietly mentions, “now you can,” Bateman disappears backward into a freefall. Instead of potentially costing good people more nice things, he decides to end it. It’s not what I saw coming and it made the show for me in the weirdest way.
With that kind of shocking death, it applies resonance to many threads of the plot, and supplies Vince with an arc that carries an extremely heartbreaking yet poignant end. He and Jake started a band and opened a restaurant. He had the brains to do everything that his brother did, but Vince lacked the patience and decency to see it through. Liability is a cross that only gets heavier to bear with age, and he knew it.
Bateman could have taken the easy role choice, but he went against the grain and delivered his most full-bodied performance to date. It’ll surprise, haunt, and shred you in the end.
