Steady Hands

Rating: 9/10 (27 January 2017)

For the past 3 years I've heard nothing but good things about Nightcrawler and heard nothing but critical acclaim for Jake Gyllenhaal performance and after seeing it I can easily say that all that praise is easily deserved, this is a film unlike any other that I've ever seen, the whole idea of people listen to police frequencies and filming crime scenes for the news is a strange plot but one that was honestly fascinating to watch, seeing the lengths that these people go to for footage made the film much more interesting to watch, it definitely felt like it was an area that had been exploited and added to the creep factor of this film. Much like the film itself the thing I loved about Jake Gyllenhaals performance was how different it was, the formal way he spoke and the repetitive techniques he uses to talk to people made his character an interesting presence. This film also did something for me that very few other films have, it didn't bother me that it had a lot of awkward interactions between characters, it added to the unhinged and strange nature of Gyllenhaals character. The main character is the thing that carries this movie and he is most definitely not this films hero, I could just as easily describe him as an antagonist because he does such horrible things in this film that make you realise that he's not the "good guy" but instead a pretty horrific person. This film also has a really great atmosphere to it, it made LA night life feel gritty and violent. Meg Ryan was also brilliant in this film she felt like a real professional and the perfect opposing force to Gyllenhaal, she's also a very well written character that has clear vulnerabilities that makes her better rounded as a person. I only really have on flaw with this film and it's Riz Ahmed's character, Ahmed was brilliant in this film but the character was boring, he had no presence to him, he got on my nerves a lot and the scenes between them never really grabbed me like the rest of the film did.
This is a truly original and different film, Gyllenhaal gives his best performance since Zodiac, the main protagonist is interesting to watch, it's got such a real life and gritty vibe to it and it was only aspects of Ahmed's character that got to me in an overall truly fantastic film.
9.3/10: A (Phenomenal)