Nightcrawler: Movie Review
Writer Dan Gilroy (“The Bourne Legacy” “Real Steel”) makes his directorial debut with the Jake Gyllenhaal lead thriller “Nightcrawler”. Up until now, Gilroy’s talents as a screenwriter have not impressed. Do you remember 1992’s “Freejack”? I have to say though, “Nightcrawler” is not only the best thing Gilroy has written to date, but it is also one of the best film of 2014 so far. I feel like I just made that claim a week ago with “Whiplash” but thanks to a mind-blowing performance from Gyllenhaal and the outstanding direction by Gilroy, this is one of 2014’s must see films.
Louis Bloom (Gyllenhaal) is looking for more than just being a petty thief. After witnessing a team of Los Angeles crime video journalists rushing towards a flaming car on the freeway just to film the aftermath, Louis becomes intrigued. As soon as the crew finishes filming the scene, Louis asks the team leader, Joe (Bill Paxton) about his job and what kind of money he make. Joe pretty much blows Louis off before saying “Not enough”.
The next day, Louis goes to the beach, steals a bike, brings it to the pawn shop and trades it for $800, a camcorder, and a police scanner. Later that night he gets to his first crime scene and he gets a very graphic close up of the victim of a shooting before being kicked off the scene by the police. Still, that footage was good enough to catch the attention of TV News veteran Nina Romina (Rene Russo). After paying Louis $250 for his footage, she encourages him to go out and find more “graphic” footage.
Louis realizes that he is going to need a little help, so he hires Rick (Riz Ahmed), a down-on-his luck young man who is willing to work for $35 a day as an intern. The two travel around L.A looking for crime scenes to shoot. At first, Louis keeps getting beat out by Joe and his crew, but the highly intelligent and quick learning Louis begins to beat everyone else to the scene.
Gyllenhaal gives what could be the best performance of his career so far and that is saying something. It’s not because the actor dropped quite a few pounds for the role, but he is able to make his character a truly terrifying sociopath. Louis is willing to tamper with a crime scene before the police get there in order to make his footage look better. In one scene, Louis drags a dead body across the road that has been flung from the car just so he can film the car and the body together. I believe there are people out there who would actually do that for better footage.
“Nightcrawler” is dark and twisted, but at the same time can actually be funny too, thanks to Gyllenhaal. It is also beautifully shot, giving us a great look at the city. Make sure to check this one out.
By: Marc Ferman