The Guilty (2021)
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A troubled LAPD officer must navigate a high-stakes 911 call from a woman who has been abducted while facing his own legal troubles.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Troubled LAPD officer Joe Baylor works the night shift at a 911 call center while awaiting a court hearing for an incident that occurred on duty eight months prior. He answers a call from Emily Lighton, a woman who states she has been abducted. While traveling in a white van, Emily is forced to hang up before she can provide more details. Joe relays the information to the California Highway Patrol, who cannot locate the van without a license plate number. After obtaining the van's plate number from Emily's daughter, Joe begins a frantic investigation. He learns that Emily's husband, Henry Fisher, has a record of assault. While Joe coordinates with his former partner, Rick, to investigate Henry's apartment, he remains on the line with Emily. The situation escalates when it is revealed that Emily has a history of mental illness and may have harmed her son, Oliver. Joe eventually manages to get Emily to a freeway overpass where she prepares to commit suicide. He manages to get her to stay on the line while the CHP arrives. In the end, Joe learns that both Emily and her son are alive. He decides to plead guilty to a charge of manslaughter, choosing to face prison time to tell the truth about his past actions.
- First release year
- 2021
- Runtime (minutes)
- 90
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Antoine Fuqua
- Writers
- Nic Pizzolatto · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Jake Gyllenhaal · Joe Baylor; Christina Vidal Mitchell · Sergeant Denise Wade; Adrian Martinez · Manny
- Genres
- crime; thriller
- Themes
- mental illness; justice; sacrifice
- Premise and plot tags
- 911 call; police procedural; remake
- Source material / true-story basis
- 2018 Danish film of the same name
- Reception
- The film received positive reviews from critics, with Gyllenhaal's performance being praised, but it is felt that the remake was inferior to the original film.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 74% · scale: approval rating · review count: 191; Metacritic · score: 63 · scale: 100 · review count: 35
- Production trivia
- The film was streamed in 69 million households over the first month of its release.; The film was the top-watched film on Netflix in 91 countries during its first month.; The production was filmed in Los Angeles during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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