A Seriously Awesome Film; Gyllenhaal is Amazing

Rating: 9/10 (12 September 2015)

Seriously, Jake Gyllenhaal has become an acting powerhouse in recent years. He's always been a talented guy but he's really taken over the spotlight with some amazing work lately. For example, his work with Denis Villeneuve (especially ENEMY) was fantastic, if you haven't already checked it out. Now he's come along and blown away both of those with NIGHTCRAWLER, from writer/director Dan Gilroy. For what it's worth, I'm ranking this as my favorite movie from 2014. Robert Elswit's cinematography is gorgeous, the three key cast nail it, and the story puts the network news system on blast for shady practices. Gyllenhaal is Lou Bloom, a local Los Angeles loser whom we meet as he's stealing metal from constructions sites to see for scrap. When he stumbles across a late night accident on the freeway, he's amazed to find a freelance camera team breeze in, grab some footage, and gun out for the next piece of news carnage. Bloom buys a set of cameras, hires a desperate assistant, and starts his own team. His disregard for procedure and human decency allows him to get the real bloody footage that other news crews can't and he becomes a hit with a local network news outfit. As time progresses, Bloom's footage becomes more and more risqué and he develops a stranglehold on the station's desperation for ratings. Bloom means business and the lengths he'll go for hit news become frighteningly apparent, and he refuses to let anyone stand between him and his success.
This is Gyllenhaal's show and Lou Bloom is his best character to date. Bloom is a full- blown psychopath. We're given a glimpse in the opening when he's caught stealing the scrap metal; when he realizes it's an independent security outfit and not a police officer, he has no problem going on the assault. He's a fast-talker and incredibly intelligent. It makes you wonder how a man of his skill was down on his luck to begin with (unless that whole psychopath thing has closed a lot of career opportunities to him). When it comes down to it, Bloom is a terrifying individual. He holds no value for human life and he only values personal success, frequently at the expense of others. From what we learn, he's perfectly suited for the job as a nightcrawler or stringer (freelance camera teams who roam the city in search of footage to sell to local news). He has no qualms with getting right into the middle of the action, forgoing good taste in exchange for video other crews can't, or won't, obtain. He becomes an instant hit with news manager Nina (Rene Russo). He's her ratings guarantee, a chance to rise to the top of the local competition. She's just as unscrupulous as Bloom and she's willing to go towellgreat lengths to retain their business partnership. Russo and Riz Ahmed (as Bloom's assistant Rick) are really the only other two main characters in the movie and they all deserve accolades for their work here.
As much as NIGHTCRAWLER is the tale of one psycho's rise to the top of his game, it's also a commentary on local news and the lengths to which they'll go to keep people tuning in. Bloom is only able to become a success because fear sells. Murders, carjackings, fatal accidentsthis is what grabs the peoples' attention and the news outlets know this. Constructing faux crime sprees out of isolated incidents and flashing pixilated corpses on the screen is enough to terrify the populace and keep them tuning in for more. The local news, as portrayed in NIGHTCRAWLER (and most assuredly true to life), is just as shady as the 24-hour cable news networks and their fear-monger campaigns (as satirized in David Fincher's GONE GIRL, also in 2014). Bloom violates the law and human decency because it's what the audience wants to see, and his disgusting nature is rewarded. NIGHTCRAWLER is definitely a dark movie and it's seriously an awesome watch. It's a gritty rags-to-riches story where the one person who displays an ounce of morality, Rick, eventually caves to the lure of extra cash. The end of NIGHTCRAWLER is one that leaves you feeling a little morose because we expect justice, but instead it plays against our expectations as a reminder that, in the real world, the good guys don't always triumph. This is a 100% recommendation on my part; NIGHTCRAWLER is a fantastic.