Jake Plays a Creepy Crawler

Rating: 7/10 (19 March 2015)

It has been a while since I've seen a movie with a cretin the likes of Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal). Louis is a low-life crook and con man that happens across the job of "nightcrawling." Nightcrawling seems to be nothing more than listening to a police scanner and running around the streets of a major city filming tragedies. Because Louis has no conscience and no issues with treading upon laws and ethics, he gets film footage of things that other nightcrawlers can't (or won't) get.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays the role of a d-bag too well. He's a pathological liar and a sociopath. As the movie goes, so does any remnants of his soul. He progresses from small time lying and thievery to practically setting up murders all for his advancement.
This movie takes me back to the 90's and the various sociopath-based suspense films I used to watch like Pacific Heights, Single White Female, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle and others. You know, those movies with the despicable character that has everyone fooled and can't be stopped by traditional means. Nightcrawler treads along that same path and it's such a fitting title for Louis Bloom because he was a worm. Actually, I think that'd be an insult to worms.