‘The Guilty’ — Spoiler-Free Review

A thriller with potential that will only be lost in the abyss of Netflix

Courtesy of Netflix

*This article was originally published in The FIlm Cut

‘The Guilty’ was marketed as the next iteration of a thrilling 911 operator-involved mystery. Featuring Jake Gyllenhaal and faceless voices that would interject a sense of creepiness into the viewing experience. Everything was pointing towards this being another fantastic Jake Gyllenhaal movie.

This is probably why I ended up walking away very disappointed…

At face value, there is so much lurking beneath the surface of this movie that could’ve made it one of the best movies of the year. Yet, despite all of its promising potential, the viewing experience was so disappointing.

Premise

‘The Guilty’ takes place in a 911 dispatch center over the course of a single day. The operator, Joe Baylor (Jake Gyllenhaal), attempts to save a caller who appears to be in grave danger. Despite his desperate attempts to save the women, Joe is about to discover that nothing is as it appears, and the only way out is to face the truth.

Courtesy of Netflix

Spoiler-Free Review — Barry’s Bites Rating = 5.8

As with every Gyllenhaal movie, my expectations going in were extremely high. His choice of projects is usually on point, and he always brings his A-game. Also, Gyllenhall combines well with thriller movies because of his ability to inject tension.

However, as the saying goes “there’s an exception to every rule” and ‘The Guilty’ is the exception to the Gyllenhaal rule. I was very disappointed, not in Gyllenhaal’s performance, but the overall style of the movie. It was intended to be an engaging thriller where a 911 operator finds himself mixed up in a kidnapping.

While that overall plot was interesting, the style of the movie led to a dull result. By only showing Gyllenhaal in the 911 operating room, the movie leaned heavily on the audiences’ imagination. While I usually endorse igniting the audience’s imagination, it has to be done in an effective manner. Obviously, one of the most effective ways to curate the audience’s imagination is through a gripping plot line.

Courtesy of Netflix

However, in ‘The Guilty’ it all comes down to the lack of any depth or substance to the characters that the audience can care about. Besides the overarching mystery of the kidnapping that Gyllenhaal finds himself involved in, there’s nothing to care about. Since we can’t even see the one plot element that we care about then the audience loses all interest.

Also, the filmmakers gave us a prime reason to not care at all about Gyllenhaal's character. However, since this is a spoiler-free review, I won’t give that reason away. Only to say that the movie sets up the audience to only care about a voice over the phone, which does not make for an exciting movie.

One of the only positive elements of ‘The Guilty’ is the fact that Gyllenhaal is the main actor.

The main source of disappointment comes from the wasteful use of Gyllenhaal’s talents. He is an exceptionally talented and unique actor. But his choice of projects always seems to straddle the fence between big-budgeted mainstream and indie films. While both demonstrate his acting prowess, they both don’t have the same effect on the audience.

Despite my disappointment with this movie, this is just my opinion. You may find something different in the movie, and I would completely embrace that. So let me know if you’re someone who walked away with a different experience. Check out the trailer below!

*This article was originally published in the Film Cut