An unexpected masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (27 April 2015)

When a movie manages to make you forget that you're watching as famous an actor as Jake Gyllenhaal because you're totally engrossed by the character he's portraying, you know you're viewing something special. Nightcrawler is a character study, a look into the mind of an already established psychopath as he delves deeper and deeper to the point of no return. You follow Lou Bloom, a man who goes from one payout to the next in a variety of illegal ways, until one night he discovers he has an unmatched talent for Nichtcrawling, which is the filming of crime scenes and violent acts for the seedy underworld of the late night news. Bloom becomes so obsessed with capturing the best possible crime on camera and goes to unspeakable lengths to achieve his goal. Gyllenhaal gives the performance of his life as the creepy yet totally gripping lou Bloom, with his wide eyes that never blink and stilted conversations that sound as if he's gone onto the web and looked up 'How to talk to people'. The whole movie essentially follows his journey up the ladder of the Nightcrawling profession, in fact I don't think there's a single scene in the film which he doesn't appear in, as the other cast members really do play supporting roles for the main even that is Bloom. The action sequences are done immaculately, with the last 20 minutes of the movie proving to be the tensest I've seen in a long time. I can't think of a serious issue I have with this movie. The acting from Gyllenhaal is Oscar worthy, the storyline is unpredictable and tense and even the directing, whilst not perfect, really portrays LA night-life superbly. My favourite film of 2014 and a must see for everyone else.