Movie Review: The Guilty (2021)

Directed by

Antoine Fuqua

Jake Gyllenhaal has garnered the reputation of being one of our best working actors.  This latest outing proves once again why that is the case.

This weekend's big Netflix release was The Guilty, a one man show starring Jake Gyllenhaal based on a Danish film of the same name directed by Gustav Moller.  This American version reunites Gyllenhaal with director Antoine Fuqua, who last worked together on 2015's Southpaw.  The Guilty is a one-man show for Gyllenhaal as he plays LAPD officer Joe Baylor, who is working the phones at 911 emergency response as he awaits discipline for some sort of incident.  While going through the motions of fielding calls working the graveyard shift one night, he appears to be extremely disinterested.  This is until he gets a call from a woman named Emily that has been abducted and is being driven around town.  Joe becomes fully invested in saving Emily and getting her home to her children as a way of redeeming himself for past mistakes he has made.

This movie is the type of thrill ride that is rare to find.  It is intense, stressful, keeps you guessing, and takes place all in one room.  We never leave the 911 control center as we hear the drama play out over the phone.  This works purely because of Jake Gyllenhaal.  The camera is on him every second of this movie as you experience every twist and turn right along with him.  He gives a brilliant performance that is worthy of the reputation he has built up over the last decade (even though his only Oscar nomination is still in 2005 for Brokeback Mountain).  There are also some solid celebrity voice performances from the likes of Riley Keough, Ethan Hawke, Peter Sarsgaard, and Paul Dano.

The story is also amazing.  The twists and turns are not ones you see coming so you are as shocked as Officer Baylor when he is forced to question everything he thought was true.  It's closest relative is a film like 2003's Phone Booth, where Colin Farrell spends the whole thrill ride on the phone.  I love that film, and this does its best to live up to those standards in my head.  Now, this film is a remake, and from what I have heard, it is basically a shot-for-shot remake of the Gustav Moller version.  This can turn some people off to the quality of the remake since it brought nothing new to the source material.  I have not seen the original film.  I don't know if my opinion on this film would change if I had, but I am not taking that into account with this review.

This was one of my biggest surprises so far in 2021.  If you like a great thriller that keeps you guessing and on the edge of your seat, then The Guilty is for you.  Catch it on Netflix.

Rating: 3.5 stars