"Nightcrawler" is a good thriller which can be recommended for a lovers of a fast paced thrill seeking cinema.

Rating: 8/10 (4 November 2014)

The fact is that motivation to succeed can be a powerful drive to make something out of ourself in this life. In America, the land of opportunity, in densely pact, excessively rich and extremely poor population of L.A, divided only by neighborhoods that sometime resemble ghettos, especially in downtown area, some people will go an extra mille to put themselves in the position to succeed at all cost. That ambition can be truly dangerous whenever the individual lacks a moral backbone. Add to it, a sociopathic personality disorder and you've got a recipe for disaster. Louis Bloom the protagonist of the thriller the "Nightcrawler" displays all above mentioned characteristics. He is extremely ambitious and morally distorted which allowed him to pursue one of the most looked down up on professions in news broadcasting industry. He becomes a Nightcrawler mixture of paparazzi and investigative reporter which investigates all the major crime scenes in search of the footage, that can be sold to TV news companies that are interested in this sort of material.
"Louis (Jake Gyllenhaal) starts a freelance camera crew who film crashes, fires, murder and other mayhem, he muscles into the cut-throat, dangerous realm of nightcrawling -- where each police siren wail equals a possible windfall and victims are converted into dollars and cents. Aided by Nina (Rene Russo), a veteran of the blood-sport that is local TV news, Lou thrives. In the breakneck, ceaseless search for footage, he becomes the star of his own story"
"Nightcrawler" is a directorial debut of the screenwriter husband of Rene Russo, Dan Gilroy. Being born in L.A, Gilroy clearly understands this town better then most people. The amount of people who come to Hollywood to become famous at all cost is staggering. I use to live in Los Angeles and being a night owl I liked driving through the empty streets of L.A without a traffic at night. During the night time there is a sense of peace and calm that usually turns in to chaos and traffic jams during the day. Of course there are neighborhoods which are dangerous to drive around specially at night and it takes someone with a death wish to really push their luck.
Apparently Jake Gyllenhaal lost 20 pounds to play Louis Bloom and this might have been bit of a marketing ploy by the producers to give an extra attention to dramatic weight loss which was not really needed for the development of the character. Watching his performance another great character comes to mind Travis Bickle played to perfection by Bob DeNiro in Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver". Both character are lonely individuals that want to do something with their life. Perhaps Louis Bloom has a better vocabulary and is able to express his thoughts well in sort of intellectual vocabulary diarrhea that gets him often the things he wants. Taking the gimmicky weight loss aside I must say Jake delivers one of his better characterizations full of moments that make his character transform in to a sociopathic individual who want to succeed at all cost. The relationship between him and his news producer played by still beautiful Rene Russo is full of sexuality which often is a driving force behind most successful performances. I don't know if his performance is good enough to receive a nomination for an Oscar next year, but it is captivating and entertaining enough to justify the price of the ticket. In "Nightcrawler" writer/director asks a lot of interesting moral questions about why our society is so focused on negativity and drives us towards stories of murder and tragedies that are shown on TV. Apparently the negative type of news take upon the highest amount of screening time in every TV station. Why do TV stations compete to bring the most vicious crimes on to out TV sets? Are we a part of the problem? Is our society so desensitized that the only thing that can interest the mass audience are bloodthirsty tragedies that most people fill up their heads with? Sadly the answer might be resounding YES whether we like it or not. Our morbid fascination with crime, does not put forth peaceful future for our children, but for the time being might become a source of entertainment whether we want to admit that or not. Precisely that is what Dan Gilroy explores in his movie and by identifying with the protagonist he forces the audience to think deeply about their moral compass and willingness to succeed at all costs. "Nightcrawler" is a good thriller which can be recommended for the lovers of a fast paced thrill seeking cinema.
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