One of the many things you can’t help but love in Presumed Innocent, debuting on Apple TV+ this week, is not just that it’s one of the best TV legal thrillers I’ve come across in quite a long time. It’s also because Jake Gyllenhaal was perfectly cast in this role, given how convincing he is in making you believe that he didn’t commit the show’s central murder — while also making you second-guess yourself throughout.
Additionally, my praise stems from the fact that this is the rare remake that’s actually quite a bit better than the original.
Harrison Ford starred in a 1990 film version of the story, about a prosecutor on trial for the murder of his lover and colleague. That earlier adaptation of Scott Turow’s novel, however, was hampered by sexism and poor writing, which ended up reducing the women like that murdered lover and the prosecutor’s wife to uninteresting side characters. Whereas in Apple’s version, on the other hand, they’re compelling, three-dimensional, and very essential to the show’s extremely gripping narrative.
Speaking of which, the basic idea is that the Chicago Prosecuting Attorney’s office is upended when, as Apple explains it, “one of its own is suspected of a crime. The series explores obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love, as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.” Gyllenhaal’s Rusty is soon enough arrested and on trial for murder, and the series keeps us hooked with everything from the office politics of Rusty’s office to how the women in Rusty’s life are caught up in the devastating undertow of his choices.
If you still need another reason to check out this Apple TV+ drama, consider also that it comes from multi-Emmy Award winners David E. Kelley and J.J. Abrams. And the fantastic cast that also includes Ruth Negga, Bill Camp, O-T Fagbenle, Chase Infiniti, Elizabeth Marvel, Nana Mensah, Renate Reinsve, Peter Sarsgaard and Kingston Rumi Southwick makes the verdict on this one pretty easy to agree on.