a great piece of social satire

Rating: 9/10 (25 February 2016)

I guess night time is a perfect time of day to set this story up, the darkness in all of us comes out at night, not to mention Bloom's loner character who realizes a legitimate and more lucrative career path of taping people's misfortunes and selling it to the highest bidding news station, Channel 6, aided by Head of the News, Nina (Russo). Soon enough Bloom's new job becomes an obsession where he is not only doing it for the money but however enjoying his work and never really learning anything about his background story except maybe that he is a witty fellow who is tenacious at anything he learns doing, and does it well plays well to focus on not only how empty his life is but also how empty he is that he becomes his work, maybe for the first time he is actually doing something people like and are willing to pay money for, for him it never gets better than that, and that obsession progresses on to the point of manipulating some crime scenes he shoots to make them more enjoyable and watchable by the viewer and hence gets him more money for it.
More money, new car, new video equipment, new police scanner, Bloom becomes a full-fledged business man who will stop at nothing to become big. Underlying Bloom's business wittiness and sharp business mind is his sarcasm that is majorly emphasized in his rather long fast monologues which project smartness and messages criticizing maybe the actual employment world nowadays, when he cynically shows his good hardworking manners and attitude towards working his way up and learning and being a good employee and that should get him success, he is actually mocking the conventional way or what this world is trying to convince us with and saying no, you won't get anywhere with an education , education won't get you money, but being an asshole with no heart and giving people what they want at all costs, gets you success, and his success story is the perfect example and proof of that.
Selling people what they want brings me to another theme portrayed beautifully by the towering satellite poles we see throughout the movie even contrasted with 'small' –shot towers for they are the controllers of people's mind today, the media, TV, radio, movies, it's what controls their minds and desires so Gilroy shoots them low to give them power and domination, like some horror movie Gothic castles up on some mountain and particularly in one scene they are drowned with fog which gives them the appearance of stationed alien spaceships who have invaded our lives and minds and won't let go.
The story definitely employs psychological themes of viewers liking to watch real life tragedies while the media at the same time manipulates it with the editing and order of shots and music, clearly evident in the scene introducing Russo's character, Nina working with the editor on some piece of news. Gilroy has certainly upped his stories after the hearty Real Steel and the action-packed The Bourne Legacy with a raw, biting, social life commentary on media and how it affects our lives. Gyllenhal graces us with another remarkable performance which adds beautifully to his list of great performances the likes of Donnie Darko, Jarhead, and Prisoners.