Review: Nightcrawler

"If you want to win the lottery you've got to make money to buy a ticket."
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From writer/director Dan Gilroy, Real Steel (2011) & The Fall (2006), Comes Nightcrawler.  Starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Louis Bloom, a well-spoken, Intelligent yet unsettling young man living in Los Angeles. He spends most of  his time hunting work of any kind. One night, Lou stumbles into the world of “nightcrawling” – the nocturnal profession of freelance video crews who roam the city, battling it out, to be the first on the crime scene. From vehicle collisions, and other assorted tragedies. The aim of the game is to capture the best footage which can then be sold to the highest bidding local news station for a healthy price. However it's Lou who begins to take nightcrawling a step further, crossing moral codes to get ahead in the game.  

Dan Gilroy creates an intriguing critique of contemporary social issues, such as the medias exploitation of serious issues for entertainment and the excessive demand for it. This plays perfectly into the dark seedy world of the Los Angeles streets that Gilroy has created for his macabre protagonist.  The corrupt system of competing news outlets provides the perfect playing ground for a character who thrives off ditching his morals in aim of succeeding. 

Cinematographer Robert Elswit (who won an Oscar for his work on There Will Be Blood) creates an eery vision of night-time Los Angeles through shots of vacant streets and nameless victims. And although the soundtrack can seem to be odd at the beginning, it soon adds to the unsettling nature of Lou Bloom and the city itself. In fact the visual symbolisms within the movie sets the tone for more of a horror movie than your bog-standard thriller.

The script is solid but nothing amazing. It's Jake Gyllenhaal's performance that elevates it to something spectacular. His intelligence and scarily precise demeanour gives one of the most interesting characters to come out of 2014. Rene Russo also put's in a strong performance as Nina Romina, a strong no-nonsense TV news producer. Although she has little screen-time compared to Gyllenhaal, the chemistry between the two is electric. Even Riz Ahmed as Rick (Lou's empathetic apprentice) helps provide a great contrast against the seedy characters of Gilroy's world.

Nightcrawler proves to be an absorbing and sinister tale set against the backdrop of night-time L.A. Gilroy manages to impress in the director’s chair, but it’s Gyllenhaal’s creepily, terrifying performance - who seems to be on fire in a string of great films - that makes Nightcrawler a must-see for movie fans.

RATING: ★★★★★

By Matthew Trick