Jake Gyllenhaal's Career Best

Rating: 10/10 (17 February 2015)

Lou Bloom will do anything to get a job, when he becomes a nightcrawler he'll do anything to get a story. Jake Gyllenhaal delivers a career best performance as Lou, a sociopathic and anti- social former petty thief who develops a blood-lust for the gruesome stories caught on the news after he witnesses an accident and watches a nightcrawler (Bill Paxton in usual snarky fashion) film the event. His chemistry with news director, Nina (a brilliantly ruthless Rene Russo, wife of the film's director, Dan Gilroy) is one of twisted opportunistic convenience as Lou provides Nina with his grim footage and uses this to his compete advantage to manipulate Nina for his own gain.
Directed and written by Dan Gilroy in his first solo feature (he had previously co-written "The Bourne Legacy" with his brother, Tony Gilroy who was that film's director), he puts the viewer into the dark, dangerous underbelly of Los Angeles with Lou as he prowls the dimly lit streets of the City of Angels, in tow is his reluctant assistant, Rick (Riz Ahmed). From the dimly lit streets that encircle L.A. to the darkness of the valley and hills to the darkened high estates. The music is used sparingly to keep the foreboding atmosphere.