The Guilty movie review

Overview

Netflix exclusives continue to rise in fame and public praise due to their great plotlines, interesting character arcs and more recently, their all star casts. 'The Guilty' is one of Netflix's most recent movie releases (2021); staring Jake Gyllenhaal and like most other recent Netflix releases, will surely be a talking point for some in upcoming months.

The films director, Antoine Fuqua, is well known for 'Training Day' and 'Southpaw' (also staring Gyllenhaal) and gives some indication as to the realism and grittiness the film evokes. However, it's the films writer, Nic Pizzolatto' (whose work includes that of hit TV show 'True Detective') that shines through with an engaging and thought provoking plot.

“Call an Uber and don’t bike drunk, asshole!” - Joe Baylor

Plot wise, we follow Joe Baylor (Gyllenhaal) as he works through a night shift at a 911 call centre, never leaving his side until the credits role. One of his receiving calls is that of a woman named Emily (Riley Keough); who we find out has been kidnapped, and is calling for help in escaping the threat to her life. We learn of the outcome via the phone calls and see how the development affects Joe, perhaps more personally than it should.

Detailed review – SPOILERS AHEAD!

The initial shot is that of a group of helicopters flying above parts of California covered with wildfire breakouts. The loud noise of spinning of motor blades and crackling fire is quickly broken by audible gasps of breath from Joe. He takes several breathes of an inhaler and shows visible signs of distress. The opening lines, "It's this damn air, no one can breathe" (spoken in passing by an extra leaving the bathroom) sets up the underlying tonality around misunderstanding/misrepresenting throughout the film. Not everything is quite as it seems at first glance.

“I understand, but it’s your own fault, isn’t it?”- Joe Baylor

Fans of Gyllenhaal will adore this film because, as previously stated, the film is that of developing character and emotional journey, something Gyllenhaal is know to do very well (Nightcrawler and Southpaw). It's a story of determination, misinterpretation and emotional acceptance and, during the 1hour 31min film, we learn about Joe's home life leading up to working the night shift and how it affects his emotional responses to people in danger.

Along the way we also hear conversations from Joe's friends, the highway patrol and also some from characters tied to Emily, such as her 6 year old daughter (Abby). Some of the voice acting is better than others but with the entire film following Joe's interpretation on matters and showing how these developments affect his emotional and mental state it's Gyllenhaal's depiction of a conflicted man trying to do something good despite hiding obvious anxieties and internal struggles that makes the film enjoyable.

Pacing of the film is fine however, as surely intended, the final scenes are arguably the most important and bring the whole plot and loop holes together as we learn of things that were not previously developed or touched upon. (Such as a phone call conversation early on between Joe and a news journalist asking "do you not want your side of the story to be told?"). Early on this means nothing in the grand scheme of things but later will highlight actions, reactions and character choices.

"Broken people save broken people" - Sgt Denise Wade

Final Thoughts

Films often try to give modern day meanings, or tie in to a social and current tragedies; often failing to truly connect with their audience in a thought-provoking manor. However, I think 'The Guilty' does this very well, touching on topics such as mental health, men's aversions to open up (emotionally) and police/civilian reluctant interaction, especially around manipulation of the truth. The style of film is reminiscent of that such as Tom Hardy's 'Locke' and Ryan Reynolds' 'Buried' but this ticks more of the boxes for me.

4/5

Trailer - The Guilty - Official Trailer (2021) Jake Gyllenhaal - YouTube