The Guilty (2000)

Director:

Anthony Waller

Writers:

Simon Burke (1992 teleplay "The Guilty")
William Davies (screenplay)

Release Date:

1 June 2000 (Hungary)

Genre:

Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

The evil that men do

Plot:

A young person gets hired to kill someone completely unknown, by someone equally unknown. Or is that true? Nothing is what it seems.

Plot Keywords:

Secretary | Biological Father | Police | Law Firm | Unfaithful Wife

Cast

Bill Pullman	...	Callum Crane
Devon Sawa	...	Nathan Corrigan
Gabrielle Anwar	...	Sophie Lennon
Angela Featherstone	...	Tanya Duncan
Joanne Whalley	...	Natalie Crane
Darcy Belsher	...	Dennis
Jaimz Woolvett	...	Leo
Ken Tremblett	...	Brent Frazer
Gillian Barber	...	Maddy Corrigan
Duncan Fraser	...	Martin Corrigan
Bruce Harwood	...	Miles
Hiro Kanagawa	...	Police Detective
Gary Chalk	...	Police Chief
Peter Kent	...	Benny (as Peter H. Kent)
Kurt Evans	...	Conor

Also Known As:

Coupable ou non-coupable (Canada: French title) (TV title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language and sexuality.

Runtime:

108 min | Canada:112 min (TV version)

Country:

UK | USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-15 | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18PL | France:U | South Korea:18 | Spain:13 | USA:R | UK:15 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

British Columbia, Canada

Company:

J&M Entertainment

Soundtrack:

Here She Comes

A promising cast is betrayed by a stupid plot that is based on illogical and silly twists & turns that only succeed in sucking the life out of it, leaving a pretty worthless 'thriller'

Freshly released from prison, young Nathan Corrigan discovers his father was not who his mother told him he was but is actually high-class lawyer Callum Crane. Crane is aiming to become a judge but is not above a bit of fun; but when a 'bit of fun' with secretary Sophie Lennon turns into rape, he has her fired to get rid of the reminder of what he did – days later he is offered the position of judge and he forgets all about it. However Sophie cannot stand that this man would sit in judgment over others and demands he turn the offer down or she will go to the papers and the police. Crane decides the only option is to have her killed and he thinks he has the solution when he bumps into Nathan in the city. However Nathan has also met Sophie and befriended her – making things very complex.

If my plot summary sounds like it is convoluted or confused then you need to believe me when I tell you that it is not all down to my inability to write coherently (well – not totally). Actually I do the film a good deed by trying to summarise this messy plot in a manner that can be read simply because in reality it is very twisted and makes very little sense – relying on all sorts of coincidence, misunderstanding or sheer lazy plot jumps to create a sort of thriller. The downside of this is that the film is such a mess that it never hangs together; one or two thin connections maybe could have survived but the fact that very little of the plot actually stands up to even passing thought means that the film becomes far too silly to ever be tense.

It's a shame because the names attached to the project were quite impressive but the writing is a mess. By the end of the film it was all over the place and I was waiting for the plug to be pulled – what little value the basic plot soon crumbles as the cracks in the plot all add up to a couple of big gaping holes that it is impossible to avoid. Pullman has done dark thrillers before and it is a shame that many viewers will be drawn to this on the back of his previous work. He is OK here and he tries to rise above the material even though he has nothing to really work with. Sawa is poor – his performance cannot save a rubbish character that is never believable. Anwar is gorgeous and I cannot understand why she has been in so many dogs over the past few years; here she looks good in short skirts but never convinces as a rape victim and the script pushes her character into some stupid form of blackmail that is just dumb. Featherstone and Whalley are both poor and the only other point of interest is a small role for Peter Kent, who is probably much better known for standing in for Arnie as stunt double than for his actual skills as an actor.

Overall, my message is don't be fooled by the cast; this is a messy thriller that is far too silly to stand up. It is based on so many coincidences and loose connections that the cracks start to show from the very start. By the end the cracks dominate the film and it can do nothing to actually build any thrills, tension or excitement. As the film ended I must admit to have given up on it already and just wasn't in the mood for any more silliness.