Is Jake Gyllenhaal's 'The Guilty' an adaptation of a foreign film?

Jake Gyllenhaal's remake of The Guilty is all set to hit Netflix as more and more viewers show interest in thrillers and true-crime series. The streaming service has it all planned, full of crime thrillers in the upcoming months, making the competition between OTT platforms even more enjoyable.

An adaptation of the 2018 Danish film by the same name, The Guilty, revolves around a police officer on a 911 desk duty who receives a distressed call from an abducted woman stuck on an L.A. highway. Taking charge of the situation, Joe Baylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) sets out on a mission to save her before she runs out of time.

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What makes both The Guilty (versions) different?

Nobody is more suitable than Jake Gyllenhaal for this tricky lead, but Jakob Cedergren, the lead in the original The Guilty, did not go as crazy as Gyllenhaal. Produced by Jake Gyllenhaal himself, he made sure he made the movie his own with his emotional reserves and versatile acting.

While Nic Pizzolatto's remake of the thriller might not be as tightly packed as the original, it does add a freshness to it, especially with its star-studded cast. This adaptation was a compelling script with deep characters. It lacked some of the grittiness from Gustav Moller's original, or maybe looked too familiar to someone who had seen the Danish version.

What made it different, in a very positive way, were the design choices. Small things always make a big difference, like Joe's computer changes shades depending on the type of call he might be on.

Here's the synopsis by Netflix for The Guilty:

"The film takes place over the course of a single morning in a 911 dispatch call center. Call operator Joe Baylor (Gyllenhaal) tries to save a caller in grave danger—but he soon discovers that nothing is as it seems, and facing the truth is the only way out."

Make it a guilty pleasure and give it a watch this weekend as it hits Netflix on October 1.