A very different and very satisfying movie

Rating: Null/10 (4 December 2014)

It's a delight to see a film with a different topic and a different style from so much Hollywood fare. The eponymous nightcrawler drives around Los Angeles at night listening in to police communications, waiting for a car smash up or even a murder, and racing to get to the scene before the cops and other nightcrawlers to obtain graphic images on a camcorder that can be sold to a TV news channel desperate for ratings.
Lou Bloom is a newcomer to the role but learns quick and knows no physical or moral limitations. The role is totally inhabited by Jake Gyllenhaal in a brilliant performance in which he has slimmed down his body, slicked back his long hair, and adopted a speaking style that is invariably calm yet robotic and utterly chilling. And it's good to see 60 year old Rene Russo (the director's wife) back with a decent role as an avaricious, yet vulnerable, television editor.
Great credit goes to screenwriter turned director Dan Gilroy who has crafted a sharp script and an almost documentary-style debut direction that draws in the viewer remorselessly with never a weak scene in a story that simply races along. The gritty urban landscape and thumping soundtrack add to the atmospherics. This is a biting satire both of "if it bleeds it leads" television news and of senseless and insensitive management speak that hits the mark time and time again in a narrative that would be funny if it was not so callous and cruel.