‘The Guilty’ movie review: Jake Gyllenhaal stars in a needless remake
The Hindu
For all who have watched the Danish original or the play, there are no surprises in the Hollywood version on Netflix
Antoine Fuqua’s The Guilty brought to mind the Hindi play Kusur, and the delightful documentary on Netflix, The Attack of the Hollywood Clichés. Kusur, because like The Guilty, it is an adaptation of Den Skyldige (2018), a Danish film directed by Gustav Möller; Hollywood Clichés for its comment on the phasing out of the maverick cop. The new landscape with rising intolerance for police brutality has no place for loose cannons such as Dirty Harry or Martin Riggs (Lethal Weapon) who took the law into their own hands.
Den Skyldige tells the story of a Copenhagen policeman who, while awaiting trial for shooting and killing a 19-year-old, is assigned to answering emergency calls. One of the calls he takes is from a woman who talks to him like she is talking to a small child. The policeman figures out that the woman is being held against her will and the reason she cannot talk clearly is probably because her abductor is close by. The Oscar-nominated film follows labyrinthine twists and turns as soul-crushing revelations are made, and victim and villain switch roles in an instant.
For all who have watched the Danish original or the play, there are no surprises in the Hollywood version except for some definite Hollywood-isations. An author-backed role, The Guilty is an actor’s delight. Palekar was brilliant as retired Assistant Police Commissioner Dandavate manning the phones at the police control room one rainy night in Mumbai.