A Thrilling Character Study of a Genuine Sociopath

Rating: 8/10 (4 November 2014)

Nightcrawler, in a nutshell, is about the moral depravity of journalism. Louis Bloom is a true sociopath, lacking any kind of empathy for anyone. In fact the only living thing he seems to show care for is his house plant that has pride of place next to the TV. He's a scavenger and a thief, completely unemployable. That is until he happens upon a car accident on the highway, stops to investigate, and bumps into a news crew filming it. He suddenly gets an epiphany - that's what he wants to do with his life; that's how he can earn himself a lot of money.
The film then follows him as he embarks on this project, and each instance sees him push the boundaries of legality and morality that little bit further, until he's trespassing, moving bodies, and even sabotaging rivals. Louis is the extreme embodiment of today's paparazzi. He has no care for his subjects - just getting the best shot of them to earn him the most money. But there's more. He's egotistical, ambitious, manipulative, and curious. There isn't much he won't do in order to further his goals, including playing the people he surrounds himself with with threats and blackmailing. He's an all-round unlikeable guy, and yet he's such an interesting character that you just want to know more about him.
That is, undoubtedly due in large part, to Gyllenhaal's exquisite performance. I haven't seen him make a single mis-step in his career (even his English accent in Prince of Persia was better than most), and Nightcrawler is no exception. If anything it only makes him an even bigger force in the acting world. He carries the entire movie and absolutely makes the most of it. It cannot be understated how spot-on his portrayal of a sociopath is. From the trailers I thought he was going to be playing a Jordan Belfort type character, but in reality he plays Louis a lot closer to Christian Bale's Patrick Bateman (American Psycho); a genuine sociopath (by which I mean not the typical Hollywood sociopath/psychopath that plagues slasher flicks). In fact I would probably say Gyllenhaal's Louis Bloom is a much closer representation of a sociopath than Bale's Patrick Bateman purely because Bateman is still a serial killer, whilst Louis never actually kills anyone (the majority of sociopaths aren't murderers).
Visually, as I mentioned, Nightcrawler definitely mirrors Michael Mann's Collateral. It's the same city filmed in the same way so that it comes alive and becomes a character itself. Much like Collateral, Nightcrawler explores much of the city, showing the different neighbourhoods and different people that inhabit it. It also takes place almost entirely at night with the streets bathed in the orange glow of the streetlights.
Nightcrawler is an entertaining character study of an unlikeable guy, which feels like such a rarity these days. The satire angle is also very welcome, even though it satirises a fairly unoriginal concept. I mean there's quite a lot of unoriginality on display in Nightcrawler. We've watched Collateral and we've gotten to know Patrick Bateman. The problem is the comparisons are so obvious. Despite all that it does put an original spin on it though (how many movies have you seen that follow a sociopathic news cameraman?), and what isn't original it arguably does better anyway, so for that I have to commend it. It's thrilling and tense, with a dash of witty humour here and there, and Gyllenhaal's performance is incredible. I give Nightcrawler a solid 8/10 and would certainly recommend it.