Review: Netflix’s New Movie ‘The Guilty’

Netflix released a new movie that is suspenseful and shocking, leaving other films in the dust. “The Guilty” was released on Oct. 1 on Netflix and was trending #1 in 91 countries. Surprisingly, this movie was filmed in only 11 days during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jake Gylenhaal acts as the producer as well as one of the main characters of the movie named Joe Baylor.

The movie introduces the audience to stressed LAPD officer, Joe Baylor, working the night shift at a 9-1-1 dispatch call center. The phones are ringing off the hook with calls relating to a large wildfire that was occurring in the Hollywood Hills. Baylor was awaiting a hearing for an incident that occurred while he was on duty a few months back but he hopes he can return to his regular job after. The audience will discover the incident later in the movie. A Los Angeles Times reporter keeps calling Baylor regarding a statement about the hearing multiple times while the phones are ringing.

A 9-1-1 call comes in about a young woman named Emily Lighton who seems to be speaking to her daughter but is actually being kidnapped. Baylor asks Lighton many questions regarding her current situation. After learning that Lighton is in a white van on the freeway, Lighton’s kidnapper realizes who Lighton is really on the phone with, so she has to hang up the call. Baylor then relays the vehicle to the California Highway Patrol (CHP), but they cannot locate her with such little information.

Baylor calls Lighton’s home phone where her daughter, Abby, picks up the phone. Abby explains to Baylor that her mom has been taken by her ex-husband Henry Fisher and gives Baylor his number. After receiving Fisher’s number, Baylor can search up the license plate number of the white van they are traveling in. Baylor then relays the license plate number to CHP and calls for an LAPD patrol car to go to the house to check on Abby and her baby brother Oliver. Baylor requests a search warrant for Fisher’s apartment but is denied.

Baylor calls Fisher’s phone and states that he knows Lighton is with him; Baylor wants to know where they are going but Fisher hangs up the call. When Baylor’s search warrant for Fisher’s apartment is denied, he calls his ex-partner Rick to search his apartment. Abby calls Baylor panicking because LAPD is at her door and doesn’t know what to do. Baylor instructs Abby to open the door but as she opens the door, the two LAPD officers see that Abby has blood all over her hands. Abby said her brother Oliver was sleeping but is injured or even dead.

As Rick breaks into Fisher’s apartment, he finds papers stacked up and goes through them. Baylor calls Lighton requesting her to pull the handbrake of the vehicle but the car fails to crash. The call ends but Baylor calls back, finding out that Lighton is now in the back of the van. Lighton tells Baylor that her son had “snakes in his stomach” and she “took them out” referring that she killed her son, Oliver. Baylor instructs Lighton to grab a brick from the back of the van and hit Fisher in the head whenever they stop the car. She hit Fisher in the head and ran away to an overpass.