'Rabbit Hole' Premiere Review: Kiefer Sutherland is back to his action roots with Paramount+’s corporate espionage
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Influence is a powerful thing. It can make a business and also break one. Paramount+ new action series 'Rabbit Hole' captures the power of influence perfectly with its storytelling and cinematic action scenes with swiftness and valor. Kiefer Sutherland is truly an action hero, the one that aces all the scenes and brings more to the table.
After successfully acing the role of Jack Bauer in the Fox drama series '24' and winning an Emmy and Golden Globe Award, Sutherland is back on the streets to fight with unseen forces and take down the bad guys. 'Rabbit Hole' premiered on Paramount+ today and raised the bar for action-drama series that holds potential not only in its fighting scenes but also its plot. 'Rabbit Hole' stars Kiefer Sutherland in the lead with Charles Dance, Jason Butler Harner, Meta Golding, and Rob Yang in the cast.
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The new generation of control and surveillance
'Rabbit Hole' starts out as a corporate espionage series that beats around the bush for quite some time, before getting to the important point of the story. Kiefer Sutherland plays John Weir, an anxious private espionage agent who takes the psychological path to change the influence of businesses and bring down big moguls to the ground. Weir is the modern-day Robin Hood, who robs the rich with elevated psychology and predictive behavior in order to help the causes he cares about. But, he also has some unearthed trauma and goes through a series of predictive anxious behavior throughout the show. Until, of course, everything goes down the drain, once Weir becomes a murder suspect in the middle of a massive conspiracy and is forced to be on the run.
The pilot sets up the premise of the show perfectly, with great cinematography and 'Now You See Me' like swiftness, John Weir comes out as a skilled trickster and a criminal who is being chased by an FBI agent (Enid Graham), but he's following the rulebook, so it's FINE. The thing that sets apart 'Rabbit Hole' from other action series is the fact that it has the best comedic timing that relieves the tension around the plot, the fact that the character of John Weir can get out untouched and in suave out of almost all the shenanigans he creates is comedic and relieving. The series shows that Weir doesn't have an online presence and internet footprint, uses a burner phone, and never uses credit cards, but cash. The production has tried hard to create a character that resembles a spy from the books.
Heard of an unseen villain?
The part that needs highlighting in 'Rabbit Hole' is the mere idea of a villain that creates a ruckus every second and is also responsible for destroying the life of the lead. John Weir is comical, weird, and smart, naming every adjective in the book. Once Weir sets out to clear his name and find the culprit behind everything, viewers who enjoy watching Sutherland do his high-stakes thriller thing will be hooked. The show thrives on cliffhangers and jaw-dropping reveals that throw the series into a bewildering loop. Or down a rabbit hole, if you must. But it becomes a fun chase once the series’ ploy is embraced for what it is: a fancy exploration of the infiltration age told through metaphors and subtle humor.
John’s crew is up against an anonymous bad guy called Crowley, and 'Rabbit Hole' gets into the idea of how data mining and excessive internet use have corrupted every inch of our lives. Much like Peacock’s 'The Capture', this series unpacks the side effects of using AI and exploiting tech as John’s life is turned upside down thanks to hacking and manipulating footage. If you like Kiefer Sutherland and love solving mysteries, then 'Rabbit Hole' is a must-watch. The show is exclusively available to watch on Paramount+.