Single-location thrillers are often a tough nut to crack, and we’ve seen plenty of examples fall into tedium when the cast and crew don’t manage to maintain the intrigue, excitement and interest levels to justify keeping the entirety of the action confined to one relatively contained space.
Luckily, Jake Gyllenhaal happens to be one of the best actors in the business, so Netflix’s new thriller The Guilty doesn’t fall into any of those traps. The actor also produces the remake of the 2018 Danish original, with Training Day and The Equalizer‘s Antoine Fuqua directing, and the two experienced hands make the most of the setup.
Gyllenhaal is Joe Baylor, a disgraced cop working as an emergency services dispatcher while awaiting trial for an incident that’s slowly revealed throughout the narrative. He gets a call from a woman claiming she’s been kidnapped by her abusive ex-husband, forcing him into action to try and save her before it’s too late.
The leading man is in almost every single frame of The Guilty, and it’s an astonishing performance. Running the entire emotional spectrum in the briskly-paced 90-minute film, the basic premise sounds straightforward, but nothing is quite what it seems. It’s a neat little thriller, one that’s deservedly grabbed top spot on the Netflix most-watched list just 24 hours after premiering, as per FlixPatrol.
