Gripping and effective

Rating: 8/10 (2 November 2014)

Gripping thriller that shares many tropes with NETWORK (1976) and BROADCAST NEWS (1987), as well as with Michael Powell's PEEPING TOM (1960) and, to some extent, with Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW (1954), but stakes out its own extremely creepy territory via the character of psychopathically amoral Louis Bloom. As this character, Jake Gyllenhaal moves entirely away from any screen persona you might have expected of him. His physical appearance will remind some of Christian Bale's gaunt and grizzly turn in THE MACHINIST(2004), but his glassy eyes and his vulpine smile are all his own, utterly remote from Donnie Darko's puppy-dog peepers and Jack Twist's vulnerable grin.
There is superb support from brilliantly cast Riz Ahmed, as broke and bewildered Rick, who gets swept along in Bloom's deadly wake, and Rene Russo is excellent as the TV news producer who finds herself in the same boat. However even Russo's considerable skills can't prevent the role from seeming rather functional.
The script is well constructed, the dialogue - especially from Bloom/Gyllenhaal - is of a high standard, and there are some nail-biting set pieces (including a terrifying car-chase: kudos to editor John Gilroy).
All in all, NIGHTCRAWLER is an effective, though ultimately bleak, evaluation of aspects of American society, albeit in the guise of mass entertainment. It's good to look these issues in the face, which this film does.
Recommended.