Starts Well But Becomes Predictable

Rating: 6/10 (4 January 2015)

Nightcrawler follows the career-rise of crime journalist, Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), a man as slimy as the creatures under the rocks, as he moves from being an observer to a participant in the crimes he records. Aiding and abetting him is Nina Romina (Rene Russo),a TV-news veteran at a local station, who shares the same (lack of) values as Bloom.
The movie has a lot going for it. A thriller could not have asked for a better setup; there are the crimes being filmed on the one hand and on the other, there are the actions of the protagonist himself as he hunts those crime stories. And there is additional horror for the audience in that the news they watch on a daily basis is the result of such depravity.
The movie has a subject matter that has never been dealt with by mainstream cinema and a great cast with the lead actors sharing a particularly good (and foul) chemistry. In spite of all this the film only comes out as mediocre. It has a strong first-half; the characters are introduced well and it easily captures our attention. However the second-half comes across as stale; some of the scenarios feel repetitive, the ending is predictable and the characters too start to feel flat. The film also does some the mistakes other thrillers (I am looking at you Gone Girl) do; give unrealistic liberties to the bad guys and makes all the other characters, particularly cops, way too dumb and/or incompetent.
The movie tries to be a thriller-cum-commentary on some of the journalistic practices but ends being a slightly below-average, pop-corn flick.