The Guilty was made during the pandemic, and it tries to make full use of those circumstances, setting the story in a 9–11 dispatch center where a cop races against time to save a mother and her children. Remade from a Danish film of the same name by director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) and writer Nic Pizzolatto (True Detective), the film is centered by a powerhouse performance by Jake Gyllenhaal.
Recently demoted officer Joe Baylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) is counting the hours until he goes to a court hearing for a shooting and is cleared for street duty again. He doesn’t always empathize with the callers he gets on the 9–11 dispatch, until he gets a frantic call from Emily (Riley Keough) who is being driven in a van against her will by her ex, Henry (Peter Sarsgaard). Baylor becomes determined to help her even as he struggles with personal issues such as his impending hearing and his broken marriage.
Jake Gyllenhaal delivers a commanding performance, displaying both aggression and exhaustion as he tries to help Emily. He just might have a hero complex, or perhaps, he is convinced he can save someone else when his personal life is falling apart. He immediately empathizes with Emily, as she has a daughter like he does.
Fuqua captures Baylor’s emotional intensity well, capturing him mostly in close-ups. The camera focus is squarely on him, obscuring the background. This doesn’t always work to the film’s advantage, as it creates a distance between the audience and the character, especially when he is going through emotional turmoil. The supporting cast is also very solid, though mostly involved only in voice acting, boasting the likes of Ethan Hawke and Paul Dano.
If you have already seen the Danish original, you might find the new The Guilty to be inferior, though not for lack of trying by the creators.
The remake introduces more personal struggles for its protagonist, and in particular, the police shooting hearing may feel shoehorned-in to viewers who are on the opposite end of the spectrum than the sensibilities the story is catering to.
Still, the film stays mostly engaging, though it loses pace slightly after a major plot twist. It’s point about mental health isn’t as clear as it could have been, but it does lead to a major breakthrough on Baylor’s end that leads to him making a major decision about his hearing.
The Guilty doesn’t quite overcome its flaws, but Gyllenhaal’s compelling turn puts it firmly into watchable territory.
It’s short, but it had been paced well enough that you can feel the agony and urgency waft off from Baylor on the screen. As a single location film, it largely succeeds in creating an engaging story. If you have ninety minutes to spare, you can’t go wrong with a one-time watch of the remake.
