One of my favs

Rating: 10/10 (20 February 2015)

Went to see this twice in theaters and now another half dozen times at home and I feel like I can safely say this is one of the most brilliant films I've ever seen.
The story clips along at a good pace and immediately sets up Jake Gyllenhall's character as a prolific sociopath who leaves a comically twisted trail of destruction in his wake as he pursues his latest dream in TV news. He quickly climbs to the top by increasingly unethical means until he's literally orchestrating city wide chaos so he can take a seat on the sidelines and film the ensuing body count.
The story has a hole here and there but it's completely forgivable given how incredibly fresh the whole plot seems. The black comedy is consistently brilliant, especially his relationship with the aging television news director who he first extorts into sleeping with him but by the end of the film is licking her lips in anticipation as he hands over the daily dose of destruction.
Also somewhat surprising is that it turned out to be a bit of a "car film" as his Dodge Challenger took front and center as one of the greatest characters ever filmed.
If you like interesting, unpredictable and completely original thrillers this is the one for you. Jake Gyllenhall and Bill Paxton are predictably amazing but Rene Russo REALLY surprised me. I never really payed much attention to her as I thought she was just a pretty face from the past but there wasn't a moment of her performance here that I didn't believe completely. It just felt like a really effortless, organic performance; great to watch.