The Guilty

A thriller... and a cheap one. Gyllenhall savors the ambiguous character of an emergency line operator who gets a call from an abducted woman. With a computer and head set in the supporting roles. I haven’t seen the original and don’t know how much Pizzolatto changed, but the dialogs and twists are very good with the suffocating Covid atmosphere. Calling over the phone and face to face contact just aren’t the same! One day I might watch the original Danish version. (02/10/2021)

The new, American version of The Guilty is out, and since I don't remember and don't want to compare it to the old, Danish version, I'm rating the film separately. I have the feeling that the film sticks too close to the original, copying the plot, script and emotions and I don't want to over-rate something we've actually seen once before, but I can't help but simply enthusiastically state that this film has done well. A one man show by Jake Gyllenhaal, who steals all the glory, you will be digging their your into the seat because not only will you be emotionally wrung out, but at the same time you can see that Gyllenhaal is fully wrung out too and his comeback to the screen after a long time is fantastic, action-packed, thrilling and just plain damn good, even though I was terribly sceptical. The Yanks tend to ruin remakes of quality films, but this time it's the complete opposite and compared to the distant and bland original, this is solidly above average. (14/09/2021)

If you’re familiar with the Norwegian original and thus the whole plot, The Guilty won’t manage to thrill you. Rather, we can just enjoy the presence of Jake Gyllenhaal and compare the formalistic concept, which in this case is livened up with a communication centre’s large monitors displaying Californian wildfires. The intensity of the main character’s explosive mental state is surprising for a mainstream Netflix movie, as if Antoine Fuqua attempted to make up for the original film’s lack of rawness and authenticity. Gyllenhaal tries hard and everyone knows that he is capable, but the degree of focus on his character is almost superficially overwrought. We don’t know the character and his good human qualities enough to sympathise with him. (24/06/2024)

I definitely belong to the group that doesn’t quite understand the point of remaking certain films (especially when it’s often laughable how the creators consider the remake to be an original work). This film falls into that category too, but fortunately, Antoine Fuqua and his team managed to get the absolute maximum out of it. After all, casting Gyllenhaal in the lead role alone is enough to attract crowds. Over the past decade, you’d be hard-pressed to find many actors from the younger generation as talented as he is; he immerses himself in his roles in a way that makes your eyes pop. The Danish original already impressed with its story, so I didn’t expect anything different in that regard. I was just a bit disappointed that the creators didn’t make any smaller, thoughtful changes. On the other hand, I felt better about the two crazy twists; they seemed more authentic. I’ll give it a 7, mainly thanks to Gyllenhaal’s masterful performance. Recommended. For me, it’s 7/10. (10/11/2021)

This is just another Americanized carbon copy overshadowed by the original 2018 Danish movie called The Guilty. There is no point watching it if you have already seen the original as this movie has nothing new to offer. The only enjoyable aspect was Jake Gyllenhaal's focused performance, even though he was really completely wasted in this. (15/09/2021)