Presumed Innocent TV review — Jake Gyllenhaal goes darker in legal thriller

The crime is gruesome, the evidence compelling, the motive credible. The only thing in the defence’s favour is that they have one of Chicago’s finest legal minds in the courtroom. The trouble is, he’s the one accused of murder.

The trial and many tribulations of Rusty Sabich play out in Presumed Innocent, Apple’s knotty new mini-series about a leading criminal lawyer charged with the killing of his colleague-turned-lover. Created by David E Kelley and executive produced by JJ Abrams, the show is a remake of the Harrison Ford-starring 1990 thriller — itself based on Scott Turow’s 1987 novel.

Yet unlike other recent film-to-series adaptations (such as Dead Ringers, Ripley or Mr & Mrs Smith), the eight-parter is more of a faithful recreation than an ambitious reinvention. The show feels like a return to the kind of drama that was a staple of 1990s cinema: a gimmick-free, grown-up story driven by eternal human themes rather than timely social issues. This throwback approach undoubtedly has its appeal, but the question of why this specific story should be told again now is not one the series answers with any conviction.

The decision to cast Jake Gyllenhaal as the lead, however, is one to commend. One of today’s most enigmatic, unpredictable mainstream actors, he is the perfect choice for a character designed to inspire ambivalence in viewers who, like the jury, are confronted with conflicting perspectives and narratives. Where Ford played Rusty with his usual brand of cantankerous charisma, Gyllenhaal goes deeper and darker here as the erstwhile forensic prosecutor becomes an increasingly desperate, erratic defendant. Is he overcome by guilt or frustrated innocence? His subtle performance lets us see both.

Part of Rusty’s torment is knowing that the prosecutors are right to identify him as the suspect. Not only did he have a torrid affair with the victim, Carolyn — revealed in steamy flashbacks — but his quasi-stalkerish obsession with her after it ended led him to her home on the night of the murder. Regrettably, Carolyn largely appears as an object of infatuation (and later a corpse) in a regressive role that wastes Renate Reinsve’s talent.

The series does better with Rusty’s wife Barbara (Ruth Negga) and his adolescent children, as it portrays their struggle to come to terms with both Rusty’s infidelity and the doubts about what he might be capable of. But while these domestic scenes elevate the emotional stakes, they often come at the expense of the more absorbing legal narrative.

Presumed Innocent is at its most engaging when Rusty and his saturnine defence lawyer (the ever-watchable Bill Camp) spar with the snide prosecutor (a wonderfully odious Peter Sarsgaard). Yet rather than tapping into the theatrical potential of the courtroom, as Alan J Pakula’s film did, the series delays the trial and stifles the build-up with digressions. Rusty may or may not be the killer, but the show is definitely guilty of too much filler.

★★★☆☆

First two episodes on Apple TV+ from June 12. New episodes released weekly