The Guilty (2021)

I don't like this movie. Let's just get that out of the way. Since I didn't like the movie I'm going to spoil it, so this is your chance to turn away. This movie was released in 2021 and I believe it was one the "Covid" productions when they were trying to find ways to make movies safely. As the movie really revolves around one person and the other known actors involved in it are only providing voice work, it would have been easy to do. In fact, as I looked into this it was shot in just 11 days in October 2020. The movie stars Jake Gyllenhall as Joe Baylor, an LAPD Officer who has been suspended after a questionable officer involved shooting where Joe took someone's life. While he's on suspension, Joe is working in the dispatch center. Joe's personal life is also in shambles in the wake of this shooting and he's really struggling with it. After his shift, Joe is supposed to go to court for a final hearing where he is expected to be cleared and will soon return to active duty. While on shift in dispatch Joe gets a call from a woman who appears that she is being held against her will. The woman's name is Emily (Riley Keough), and Joe works to try and get police officers to the vehicle she is in. Emily is in the vehicle with her husband Henry (Peter Sarsgaard). Shortly after that call gets terminated Joe gets a call from a young child, Abby (Christina Montoya). Joe realizes that Abby is Emily's daughter and goes well beyond normal protocol to get her help. When LAPD officers arrive at the house they find Abby's has blood on her, but she says it belongs to her little brother. The officer's find the brother and he's taken to the hospital where he's stabilized in critical condition. When Joe gets a subsequent call from Emily, he wants to help save her. It's in this call that he comes to realize that Emily is the threat and her husband Henry is just trying to get her to the state mental hospital so she can't hurt the kids again. Another dispatcher makes what is intended to be a passing comment to Joe, she says "Broken people save broken people." This has a profound impact on Joe. He ends up calling his partner and telling him to tell what really happened in court, which will likely land Joe in prison. Joe then calls a reporter to provide the truth before he can chicken out. This move reminds me heavily of The Call (2013) featuring Halle Berry as a 911 dispatcher. I'm having a little trouble pinpointing why I dislike this movie. It does a good job of building and maintaining tension. I think perhaps it overplays that card though, and that may be why it rubbed me the wrong way. The movie was directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day and The Equalizer) who is a more than capable director. This movie has an aggregate rating on IMDb of 6.3 *'s and a metacritc rating of 63. For me though, it's just 5 out of 10 *'s.