By: Andrew Wing
The Guilty is a 2021 American crime thriller film directed and produced by Antoine Fuqua (director of Training Day, Shooter, and The Equalizer), from a screenplay by Nic Pizzolatto (creator of the HBO crime drama series True Detective). It is a remake of the 2018 Danish film of the same name that was selected as the Danish submission for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards.
The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead role as the troubled LAPD officer Joe Baylor who is working the night shift at a 911 call center while he awaits a hearing for an unspecified incident that occurred on duty eight months prior. The day before his court hearing, Joe answers a call from a young woman who reveals she has been abducted. This leads to Joe scrambling to do everything in his power to save the distressed caller during what turns out to be a harrowing day of revelations and reckonings.
The film also features Christina Vidal (Freaky Friday, See No Evil) and Adrian Martinez (best known for his role as the “Discount Double Check” guy from the Aaron Rodgers State Farm commercials) in live-action supporting roles, along with a talented voice cast consisting of Ethan Hawke (Training Day, First Reformed), Riley Keough (American Honey, The Devil All the Time), Eli Goree (Ballers, One Night in Miami…), Da’Vine Joy Randolph (Office Christmas Party, Dolemite Is My Name), Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood, Prisoners, Swiss Army Man), and Peter Sarsgaard (Flightplan, An Education, Blue Jasmine).
The Guilty had its world premiere at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival on September, 11, 2021. The film was released in a limited release on September 24, 2021, before then being digitally released on Netflix a week later on October 1.
THE GOOD
As a huge fan of Jake Gyllenhaal like most people who love movies as much as I do, I have been looking forward to this movie ever since I saw his name attached to it. Once I saw that Antoine Fuqua was directing AND that it was going to be a Netflix film, my excitement for it doubled.
With as many movies as I watch and have on my watchlist across the streaming services, it is very easy for me to forget about certain movies on those said lists, and as it turns out, I have had the original 2018 Danish version of The Guilty on my Hulu watchlist for some time now. With that said, it wasn’t until after I watched this U.S. remake this past Friday that I actually decided to watch it. First things first, both films are very good and I enjoyed both of them a lot. But with this review being a review of the 2021 U.S. version, I will occasionally reference where I felt it was better than the original and certainly later on in the review in ‘The Bad’ portion, where I felt it was inferior to the original film and why.
There is no denying that the main attraction for this film is Jake Gyllenhaal. He is undoubtedly one of the best actors in Hollywood today and it is mind-boggling that he only has one Academy Award nomination throughout his illustrious career. If there is one genre that suits Gyllenhaal as an actor, it would definitely be the thriller genre in my opinion. I mean we got Donnie Darko, Zodiac, End of Watch, Prisoners, Nightcrawler and the list goes on. There is just something about the way he acts that just fits like a glove with thriller films, so with The Guilty, it was a match made in heaven. Although I didn’t find his performance in this to be his career’s best work, that does not take away from the fact that he is still really really good in this. He is, and this is not a joke, literally on screen for the entire 90-minute runtime, so it was a treat getting to watch him portray this character and make you feel every emotion you can throughout this wild ride.
Another thing I enjoyed about this film and where I felt it improved from the original film were both the sound editing and the overall look of the film. It is very evident when you watch the trailer, but the use of the ringing of the phone in the 911 call center throughout was really cool and I felt it added another layer to an already suspenseful movie. As for the cinematography done by Maz Makhani, I loved the look of this movie, especially inside the 911 call center and the use of the colors red and black. Also, with the movie taking place in Los Angeles during a forest fire, there were plenty of impressive drone/aerial shots on display.
Lastly, the voice actors in this were great and I was surprised to see so many big names once the credits rolled. It was fun trying to guess whose voice each character was and I thought they all did a fantastic job at bringing their characters to life despite not seeing them on screen.
THE BAD
The biggest critique I have on this film is simply that it just isn’t as good as the original despite the big names this one has attached to it. I know that isn’t saying a lot and it doesn’t help its case that the original was really good, so good that it was the country of Denmark’s submission for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards. But, I have to be critical of it because I think whenever there is an American remake of a successful foreign property, the goal of those involved is to make a better film than the original no matter what and with this, they just didn’t do that.
The main reason I felt this was inferior to the original was because in this one I felt it was over-dramatized. The two films are extremely similar obviously, from the story to the script, but the U.S. version is definitely more dramatic and I just felt they went over the top in some scenes that came across just fine to me the way they were in the original film. And despite how good Gyllenhaal was in this, even in some of the more intense scenes towards the end it felt like it was overplayed and just a tad embellished which was unfortunate because it took away from the true genuine emotions they are trying to make you feel when you are watching this story take place.
Lastly, and I am curious to know your thoughts on it if you take my suggestion and check this out, but I just didn’t vibe with the ending. I get what Fuqua was going for with Gyllenhaal’s character of Joe Baylor, but as a member of the audience that I was for this film, I wasn’t very pleased with the journey I went through to reach this conclusion.
THE VERDICT
Despite feeling inferior to the original film, The Guilty is still an extremely tense and enjoyable 90-minute crime thriller from Antoine Fuqua that features another exemplary performance from Jake Gyllenhaal, a talented voice cast, and an intriguing story that just may leave audiences feeling muddled over its divisive third act.
TED TAKES RATING - 7.1/10
The Guilty is now streaming on Netflix. Check out the latest trailer below.