The Guilty
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Riley Keough, Peter Sarsgaard, Christina Vidal
Directed By: Antoine Fuqua
Rated: R
It’s been quite a while since my last review. I had to take some time away for personal reasons. I try not to get too personal on here, but I have recently dealt with a very difficult loss. Due to that, I don’t know if I’ll be able to post reviews as frequently as I usually do. However, these reviews are something that I have always found to be a great outlet for me. So I’m hoping to write more this fall. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read my reviews.
I haven’t gotten around the theaters lately. But I have been known to watch lots of Netflix originals. When I heard about a Netflix original starring Jake Gyllenhaal…I was ready with popcorn.
The Guilty follows Joe, a demoted cop turned 9-1-1 operator with a dark past. As he works a shift taking calls, he receives a frantic call from a woman named Emily who has been abducted. Joe does whatever he can to track her down, but will it be enough?
This is director Antoine Fuqua and Jake Gyllenhaal’s second film together after South Paw. (The movie you may remember from the advertisements where Jake plays a professional boxer and screams at the camera while wearing a grill.) In The Guilty (a remake of a 2018 Danish film), the focus is on Gyllenhaal’s character for the entirety of the movie. We never see any of the other characters he speaks to on the phone. Let me tell you, this man LOVES to be on the phone. Even when he isn’t taking dispatch calls, he’s making personal calls. I don’t know how anyone would want to be on the phone that much, but he never stops calling. That should have been the name of the movie (#Neverstopcalling)
It’s difficult to centralize a film on one specific person who stays in the same location and actually make that interesting. Yet, Antoine Fuqua directs the film with tension that kept me invested. I had to know what would happen to Emily, the story of Joe’s past, and just how many calls this man was willing to make in a day.
I do think that the film could have expanded on Joe’s past a bit more. There are several elements explored but some of them are a little too vague at the end.
Jake Gyllenhaal carries this movie. I don’t think anyone would call him a subtle actor in this performance. Joe’s a cop who has been placed at the 9-1-1 dispatch due to an incident that we learn about through the course of the film. He lashes out at some 9-1-1 callers while forming an attachment to Emily and her situation. Gyllenhaal plays Joe with an intensity that is obvious in every scene. However, there are times he almost goes too far with the emotional beats, especially towards the end of the movie in the final scene. You all know I’m a fan of Jake, but there are times where he’s overacting here.
Although the film relies on Gyllenhaal’s performance, there are a few voice actors who really stand out. Particularly Riley Keough and Peter Skarsgard as Emily and Henry. Although we never see them on camera, their storyline is intensely haunting. Every time a call comes in from Emily the audience is left on the edge of their seats.
Although some moments are certainly over-the-top, The Guilty finds a way to keep its “one-man” setup still feel thrilling. This is an intense thriller with twists and turns to keep you invested.
My Rating: 7/10