Gyllenhaal is equal parts Spongebob and T-1000

Rating: 8/10 (31 October 2016)

Last night I saw NIGHTCRAWLER! Jake Gyllenhaal stars in this character study/thriller as sociopath Louis Bloom who sets his sights on becoming an independent news gatherer, which is pretty much a guy who chases the flashing lights of emergency vehicles looking for stories to sell to the local news. What lengths will he go to get the story? Well, let's just say that a man born without empathy or fear can go pretty damn far.
There's a lot to talk about with this movie but let me start off by saying just two words, "Jake Gyllenhaal." MAN! This guy is something else! He really shines in this movie. The way he portrays Bloom without an ounce of empathy is just unlike anything I've seen before. He's like a bizarre cross between SpongeBob SquarePants and the T-1000. It's really unnerving watching him in this role and every moment you spend with him makes your skin crawl but at the same time you're drawn in to wanting to see what he'll do next. Also noteworthy is Rene Russo who plays a veteran news anchor desperate to increase her ratings. I really liked the whole vibe of this movie which plays kinda like a retro John Carpenter film in some respects. It's got a style and a brash quality about it that has been largely unseen in film beyond the 1980s. The art direction and the cinematography are another triumph of this film. It manages to marry both hand-held and steady-cam shots in a fluid way that keeps the differing styles uniform and easy to follow despite some scenes that have quite a bit of action in them. Speaking of which, the driving sequences in this film are amazingly well shot and really interesting to watch. There are a few sticky moments that don't really make too much sense as far as the way the police are portrayed, letting just anyone hyper-close to dangerous crime scenes in a way that you know they would never do, but overall it's alright.
On the whole, I really liked this film. If you're a fan of films like Taxi Driver or Drive or any number of John Carpenter films, I think you'll like this too. It's not super heavy on the action like some of the other films but you will definitely get a thrill from it. Nightcrawler gets a 4...out of 5.