Throughout 2021, Netflix has been on a tear when it comes to debuting new titles on a regular basis. But that hasn’t stopped director Antoine Fuqua’s film The Guilty from landing a 1-2 punch that promises intense storytelling and high wattage star power. Combining Fuqua’s directorial prowess, with True Detective’s Nic Pizzolatto and star Jake Gyllenhaal’s singular abilities, the first trailer for this movie already looks intense; and we barely know anything about the full story.
With The Guilty, it looks like Netflix has started up the hype engines yet again on what looks like a wild ride for their subscribers. This remake of director Gustav Möller’s 2018 Danish film of the same name localizes the action to a Los Angeles dispatch call center. It’s in that location that The Guilty spends its entire running time, with Jake Gyllenhaal’s Joe Baylor trying to save a life, and discovering all the truths that come along the way.
Things start out pretty decently enough, with Gyllenhaal’s character fielding calls ranging from trying to find a missed connection to a plea for fire assistance during a wildfire. Out of nowhere, The Guilty throws Joe Bayler his curveball, as a random call from a woman under distress kicks off the tension that rules the rest of the film. The clock is ticking, and Jake Gyllenhaal is going to be our window into the action that ensues.
While The Guilty’s eventual path is still somewhat of a mystery, what’s not hidden is the stellar cast that’s joining Jake Gyllenhaal for the thrills. Ethan Hawke, Paul Dano, Peter Sarsgaard, and Riley Keough are all on tap to join Gyllenhaal; and presumably as voices on the other end of the 911 calls he’ll be receiving. Keough is almost assuredly the voice of the woman in distress, which means her and Gyllenhaal’s interactions should be the anchor for all of the twists to navigate around.
It’s an interesting time for The Guilty to arrive on Netflix, as we’re nearing the 20th anniversary of 24’s network TV debut. Once attached to bring the Kiefer Sutherland counter-terrorism drama to the big screen, Antoine Fuqua looks to have used his experiences on that defunct project in the process of putting this unique spin on a foreign film. So if you’re interested in intense scenarios, in limited locations, with your eyes on the clock at all times, The Guilty looks like it’s made just for you.
The Guilty will go into limited theatrical release in September, with the film debuting on Netflix’s streaming library on October 1st. If you want to check out what other movies the studio is planning on releasing, in its massive year of weekly debuts, head over to the 2021 Netflix movie premiere schedule. And, of course, don’t forget to check out the theatrical debuts catalogued in our 2021 premiere schedule!
