The Guilty

As has been said this was a remake of a Danish film. I haven't seen the Danish film but I have seen something very similar although forget what and when.

Jake G. Puts on a powerful and somewhat over dramatic performance. I say over dramatic because there is a huge mismatch between his acting and eveyone else's and it shows. The gap was far to wide to ignore. From yelling at more senior and experienced staff to throwing expensive equipment around and no one challenged him on it except for a feeble demand for respect from his sergeant, and I do mean feeble and it didn't last long.

This really was a one man show and boy did he put on a show. Unfortunately everything else was just filler to drive it along for another Joe moment. Sure to please Jake fans and I did enjoy seeing top class talent which he is.

I gave it a 6 because it didn't get me where it should have,

Jake Gyllenhaal once again proves how good of an actor he is, especially a character actor. He plays this role, Joe Baylor, a 911 phone operator with such intensity has he battles inner struggles alongside the torment of an abduction. For me the film isn't as entertaining as it is without Gyllenhaal in the lead role. Others may disagree but this reminded me slightly of his performance in 'Prisoners' in which he plays a detective battling similar demons.

I really enjoy films that take place in one location as it immerses you more into the narrative and I think director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, The Equalizer) does a very good job in keeping the tension centred around Gyllenhaal's character.

I don't think the writing is anything spectacular, it's really Jake Gyllenhaal's performance as well as some stellar voice acting via the phone calls that carry the film.

It's an enjoyable watch that I had a good time, albeit it wasn't a great film, but it had a great performance from a great actor.

Great.

This story follows the world's most incompetent crisis negotiator, Joe, as he attempts to keep a situation from getting out of hand. When I say incompetent, I mean that thanks to Joe's endless blunders and impulsive behavior, this movie was just one soundtrack away from being a dark comedy. Instead it got labeled a thriller due to the thrill the of pure rage the audience feels as they watch Joe pick one poor choice of words after another.

The acting was pretty good and the story was new to me. The fact that Fuqua was able to make a movie like this from virtually one location and on such a frugal budget is pretty impressive, but come prepared to yell at Joe for being more than a little useless for an hour and a half.

The movie is not a 7.

The movie with Jake Gyllenhaal is a 7. This man is the most underrated gem in Hollywood.

I haven't seen the original, but this movie is good enough. With amazing performance by effectively the only actor in the movie.

Director Antoine Fuqua also did his best with the screenplay he had, and created the perfect amount of non-stop tension and suspense - also due to Jake Gyllenhaal's outstanding performance. The cinematography and score were also on point, and the 90 min runtime and pacing just right. But the story itself was just nothing spectacular and easily forgettable - and written better in other 911 films. There were also too many plot and technical issues, and unrealistic actions and procedures taken by both the police and 911 operators. It's a generous 7/10 from me.