Utterly Compelling

Rating: 8/10 (5 April 2015)

Dark, thrilling, gritty, exciting, absorbing. These are just a few adjectives that describe Nightcrawler. It's also superbly written, directed, and acted with Jake Gyllenhaal giving an outstanding performance as Louis Bloom, a sociopathic loner who discovers the world of freelance journalism. It's also a fantastic directorial debut from Dan Gilroy, and thankfully a much better writing piece than his last outing, The Bourne Legacy. Everything you could hope for from a movie of this genre, Nightcrawler delivers and it delivers it excellently.
We all know that this is obviously a fictional story but really what the film shows us isn't too far from the truth with regards to the paparazzi and news networks. For instance, the extremes Bloom goes to - for the most part at least - in trying to get his exclusive scoops, and the networks all desperate for their ratings, can be likened to those who do the same in the real world. The point could be argued that the film takes it a bit far just to add excitement & suspense, but when you read about what happened to Princess Diana and the way the networks completely distorted the truth regarding the Zimmerman trial, the film doesn't take it too far at all.
As for the cast, well, Gyllenhaal completely dominates with his performance as Louis Bloom, and how he wasn't even nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars is beyond me. He plays Bloom in such a way that you don't know whether to like him, feel sorry for him, or be completely creeped out by him. For me, it's a combination of all three to start, but as Bloom becomes more obsessed & more relentless the creep factor starts to come out much more. Special mentions go to Bill Paxton & Renee Russo for their roles as Joe Loder - a weasel of a freelancer and Bloom's main rival - and Nina Romina - the network's morning news director who's desperate for not only those exclusives, but to stay in her job.
This is definitely a movie that should be put into the "must see" category.