The Guilty
Netflix | Release Date: September 24, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
63
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
15
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Original-CinKim HughesSep 27, 2021
Rarely do remakes capture the lightning in the bottle of the source material. But The Guilty does, no doubt in part because screenwriter Nic Pizzolatto, best known for the True Detective series, drafted Gustav Möller, who wrote the original screenplay for and directed the original. Whether a remake was needed remains debatable, but the vision remains intact. Read full review
83
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezSep 11, 2021
What makes The Guilty good is the way it tacitly communicates so much about the character without ever having to speak his issues out loud. Read full review
80
EmpireAmon WarmannOct 1, 2021
Gyllenhaal flexes all his considerable acting muscles in this taut, tense thriller. One of the better remakes you’ll see. Read full review
80
TimeStephanie ZacharekSep 30, 2021
Gyllenhaal’s Baylor is a man on the edge of time, reckoning with a deed he can’t take back and a possible future built on lies. Few actors can put this kind of raw yet strangely companionable self-loathing onscreen—and make you glad you didn’t avert your eyes, no matter how much you wanted to. Read full review
80
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisSep 30, 2021
Essentially a one-man show, The Guilty necessarily vibrates to the rhythms of its lead. Read full review
80
Time OutStephen A. RussellSep 29, 2021
If director Antoine Fuqua thoroughly flubbed his remake of The Equalizer, he properly sticks the landing here. Seizing you from the outset, The Guilty refuses to let go until you’re gasping for breath. Read full review
80
UproxxMike RyanSep 12, 2021
This is Jake Gyllenhaal’s show. Read full review
79
TheWrapSteve PondSep 10, 2021
Fuqua, like Möller before him, doesn’t really give you time to sit back and think about it. The Guilty stays in one place but moves like a tough, efficient action flick; it’s a thrill ride in an office chair. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonSep 27, 2021
So while Fuqua’s The Guilty is not much different from the original, his direction is crisp, Gyllenhaal’s performance grows on you and Riley Keough (Zola), as the voice of the woman who is abducted, is terrific. Read full review
75
The Associated PressLindsey BahrSep 22, 2021
Gyllenhaal is absolutely commanding throughout the lean 91-minute runtime, a compelling ball of stress, anxiety and frustration working only with computer screens, phones and disembodied voices. It is no understatement that the success of The Guilty rests entirely on his shoulders. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Sarah-Tai BlackSep 13, 2021
Fuqua is reliable in his continued ability to craft tense and measured films for broad audiences looking for complicated tales of morality. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoSep 12, 2021
Jake Gyllenhaal delivers as one would expect, proving again that he’s one of the most consistent actors alive. Read full review
75
IndieWireKate ErblandSep 10, 2021
If you’ve seen Moller’s The Guilty, well, you’ve basically seen Fuqua’s, but Gyllenhaal’s performance adds a go-for-broke turn that capitalizes on the actor’s deep emotional reserves. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJessica KiangSep 23, 2021
Perhaps the highest praise we can lavish on Fuqua’s solid, enjoyable, easily watchable remake, is that beyond the addition of Gyllenhaal, it doesn’t try to fix anything that wasn’t broken in the first place. Read full review
70
IGNSiddhant AdlakhaSep 14, 2021
Its efforts at social commentary mostly fall flat, but its thrilling moments and Gyllenhaal’s intense performance largely make up for that. Read full review
70
Film ThreatAndy HowellSep 14, 2021
The Guilty manages to keep things interesting with a propulsive plot. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Sep 13, 2021
For most of its brisk 90 minutes, The Guilty is just Gyllenhaal, in tight close-up, constructing a movie out of sweat and tears alone: a glorified radio play of a thriller whose thrills are generated almost entirely through his reactions. Read full review
65
CNNBrian LowrySep 23, 2021
The Guilty is a taut, remarkably spare thriller. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreOct 1, 2021
The ground covered is a tad overfamiliar, Gyllenhaal’s reactions predictably over the top and even the tropes of the genre (“real time”) can seem unsurprising and overplayed. But Fuqua makes every minute of screen time count, maintaining the suspense and claustrophobia even in those stretches where he takes the foot off the gas. Read full review
61
PolygonJesse HassengerOct 1, 2021
Gyllenhaal is the whole show, and his irritable, driven, struggling character doesn’t exactly glorify his line of work. His unpleasantness gives the movie its edge, and perhaps also an unearned sense of gravitas. Read full review
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