Film Review: ‘Nightcrawler’
Director: Dan Gilroy
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed
Age Restriction: 13 LV
Genre: Thriller, Drama
Runtime: 117 minutes
Release date: 6 March 2015
Jake Gyllenhaal stars in this dark and gritty thriller which follows Lou Bloom (Gyllenhaal) – a sociopath determined to make it big. When he discovers the art of night crawling – filming murders, fires, crashes and any other sort of anarchy during nocturnal hours, Lou decides to give it a shot.
Lou displays signs of a sociopath: charismatic, calculating, deceitful, manipulative and remorseless; plus, he’s not scared to take huge risks and will do almost anything to succeed. All of these characteristics make Lou the perfect candidate for the job and of course, he succeeds in it.
Once Lou finishes filming the casualties, he delivers the footage to a local television news station managed by news director Nina Romina (Rene Russo) who broadcasts the footage on the news.
The more popular Lou becomes, the more lines he’s willing to cross in order to become even bigger than before and being a sociopath, he doesn’t care who he has to hurt or manipulate to get to the top.
The story is well-crafted and is fairly slow-paced, which is perfect for this kind of film as we get a nice comprehensive, detailed and investigative story that will absolutely captivate audiences.
Keep in mind that Nightcrawler is not for everyone as art house film-lovers will undoubtedly enjoy this crime caper while general moviegoers might be turned off by the film’s slow pace.
What makes Nightcrawler really fascinating is the psychological aspects explored in the film. Lou’s sociopathic personality will lead audiences to question his motives, odd decisions, erratic behaviour and will have them wondering if such people actually exist in real life.
Nightcrawler is a clever and thought-provoking film that will thrill and terrify audiences at the same time due to its psycho-drama elements with the addition of high-speed action which will automatically grip viewers.
The film’s dialogue is cleverly written and well executed by its cast with Gyllenhaal delivering his lines with charm and wit. He absolutely nails it as the sociopathic Lou Bloom bringing in a performance that’s charismatic, freaky and above all Oscar worthy. It’s too bad that the Academy snubbed Gyllenhaal in favour of Bradley Cooper as this might just be his best performance to date.
Warning: Gyllenhaal’s performance will absolutely scare the hell out of you due to its unpredictability and the fact that Lou seems normal on the outside but is actually evil on the inside.
While Riz Ahmed – who plays Lou’s assistant/intern Rick Carey does a fine job, it’s actually Rene Russo who comes in second best as the no-nonsense Nina who unexpectedly brings a great performance to the table and utterly deserves the BAFTA nomination she received for Best Supporting Actress.
Final Verdict:
Captivating, terrifying, psychological, thought-provoking and brilliantly acted, Nightcrawler is a fascinatingly great film that will grip audiences to the core. Jake Gyllenhaal’s Oscar worthy performance will thrill audiences in a good (amazing acting) and a bad (terrifying character) way, while Rene Russo will absolutely surprise with her performance.
