“The Guilty” (2021) directed by Antione Fuqua, starring Jake Gyllenhaal / Z-View

The Guilty (2021)

Director: Antoine Fuqua

Screenplay: Nic Pizzolatto; based on Den skyldige by Gustav Möller, Emil Nygaard Albertsen

Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Riley Keough (voice), Peter Sarsgaard (voice), Eli Goree, David Castañeda, Adrian Martinez, Beau Knapp (voice), Edi Patterson (voice), Paul Dano (voice), Gillian Zinser (voice) and Ethan Hawke (voice).

Tagline: Listen Carefully.

The Plot…

Joe Baylor is a LA police officer regulated to the night shift at a 911 Call Center pending the outcome of a complaint filed against him.  It is the night before a court decision deciding his fate.  It’s been eight months of hell.  It took a toll on Baylor and his family.  He and his wife (and their child) are estranged.

Baylor’s shift is almost over.  He cannot wait to get home and put this night behind him.  Then he takes a call.  A six year old girl is home alone with her baby brother.  She’s afraid.  The child says her father took her mother out of the house.  As Baylor tries to find her location to send a unit for a welfare check, he discovers the father has a record — for assault.  Now worried for the children and the mother, Baylor begins to try to locate the girl’s parents.

Joe Baylor is about to go down a path that he’s not expecting and will change his life.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

The Guilty is a remake of a 2018 Danish film of the same name.

The Guilty (2021) rates3 of 5 stars.