Something to Think About

Rating: 7/10 (12 March 2015)

In this movie a Nightcrawler is a person, who with video-camera-in-hand goes to disaster sites such as a drive-by, vehicle accident, house or car fire, a home invasion, and well anything that will show human loss, suffering, and gore that will play well on nightly TV newscasts. These TV stations hope for better ratings as they believe those are the things the public wants to see. Really? (sad, but true)
Normally, I shy away from incidents of the type described above on the nightly newscasts. I do not like to see human suffering regardless of the cause. But here we are and this is what small time thief Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) realizes is a good way to make a lot of money. So with video camera in hand he sets out to strike it rich so to speak. He hires Rick (Riz Ahmed) as an intern to navigate the GPS to get to disaster sites quickly. They become part of the new TV journalism that I call the Disaster Paparazzi.
Lou has learned many business terms, tactics and philosophies by going online and absorbing all he can. And it works for him. He is good persuasive speaker spewing business tactics and strategy at the drop of a hat. He can give one heck of a pep talk as he does with Rick.. No matter what Rick's objection is Lou has the perfect answer. And yes, even I bought some of his reasoning. (I'm shocked.)
Rene Russo plays Nina the TV News Director as she is perfect in this role. The scenes between Lou and Nina with the the quick back and forths are pure gold. Both Russo and Gyllenhaal should have gotten Oscar nominations, but were overlooked. Pity.
Near the end you will see some fantastic driving stunts. The editing for these shots was spot on. Production- wise this is well done with a good supporting cast rounded out by Bill Paxton as Joe Loder, Lou's main competition. But it is Gyllenhaal as Lou who is the relentless driving force throughout.
My question is this: why was this movie made in the first place? Are some of the video shots staged or the crime scenes violated by these Disaster Paparazzi who may rearrange bodies to get a better shot to sell to a TV station looking for shock value? Is this what the movie is trying to say? Something to think about. (7/10)
Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Bloody Gore: Yes. Language: Yes.