Plot: A petty thief desperate for work muscles into the world of crime journalism and becomes the star of his own story as he blurs the line between observer and participant.
Runtime: 1 Hour 57 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Nightcrawler starts when ambitious petty thief Louis Bloom (Gyllenhaal) learns about crime journalism. He wants to help report from crime scenes and watches Joe Loder (Paxton). Louis hires Rick (Ahmed) to support his process, and he quickly learns to get the ruthless footage.
However, the deeper he gets into the world, the more lines he starts crossing. Slowly this led to him creating the stories for the media to spread.
Verdict on Nightcrawler
Recap
The movie follows a petty thief who gets into crime journalism. He starts learning quickly before getting caught in the middle of observing and creating.
Best Parts
Jake Gyllenhaal gives a career-best performance in what is one of the best thrillers of modern cinema. It shows how desperate people are for graphic stories and how the media outlets are happy to spread fear. There are plenty of disturbing incidents, that start like normal accidents or incidents before following how stories are unfolding. It is more how Louis doesn’t care about anything that happens that creates the uncomfortable environment we are thrown into.
Final Thoughts –Nightcrawler is an outstanding thriller which never backs down.
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton, Riz Ahmed
Plot: When Lou Bloom, a driven man desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story. Aiding him in his effort is Nina, a TV-news veteran.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Wow Brilliant Thriller
Story: Nightcrawler starts by showing Louis Bloom (Gyllenhaal) working to thief stealing and selling metal. Louis is looking for career in life but it struggling to find his calling in life, but witnessing a car crash recovery Louis meets Joe (Paxton) who race to the scene of the crime to get raw footage so they can sell it to whoever pays the most. This leads to Louis starting his own chase to the crime scene with his first Police radio and video camera.
After getting his first footage he sales it to cut throat news veteran Nina (Russo) who explaining what her station is after as well as handing out tips for him to improve his style in the future. Starting off Louis hires an assistant Rick (Ahmed) to learn the codes to help navigate through the city of Los Angeles. Louis continues to improve his style he gets drawn into world, improve his equipment, car as well as starting to become more daring in pushing the boundaries including make the scenes look better on camera. With ratings week happening Louis has to prove he is all he claims and going up against Joe and his multi van team he has been losing out, now Louis will go to new levels risking not only his own life but his assistant’s life. Louis starts going dark crossing lines he should never be to make sure he gets the perfect footage.
Nightcrawler is very much one of the most interesting films of the year, I have not seen a film that focuses on the subject that this one does before. We get to see how Louis slowly becomes obsessed with this fascination on the perfect film as well as learn more about what drives him to perfection. We get to see how close the boundaries people will go and we then get to judge on what is too far for ourselves. We get morals questioned from the first moment to the final but with the new world’s obsession with reality these guys would be considered right even though it is very wrong how far they go. The story is fresh, the story is original and the story pulls you in. (10/10)
Actor Review
Jake Gyllenhaal: Louis Bloom starting off as a thief but when he learns about ‘Stingers’ who go around looking to get the first footage of crime scenes he gets interested in starting his own recording service. As the time continues he becomes obsessed with getting the best and along with his relationship with news veteran grows as does his reputation. Jake gives his best performance of his career here and it will stick with you afterwards too. (10/10)
Rene Russo: Nina Romina a veteran news director who is on the lowest rated channel, she gets involved with using Louis footage and sees the rating rise but she gets caught up in negotiating on the footage as each one rises to breaking the budgets. Rene gives a great performance as the aging news lady. (9/10)
Bill Paxton: Joe Loder a fellow stringer who shows Louis the world before becoming competition against him. Bill does a good job offering the a supporting role here without doing too much. (7/10)
Riz Ahmed: Rick assistant to Louis who constantly starts wanting more money but keeps getting shot down because of the demands of Louis, who eventually gives him the raise but only when Rick starts risking more. Riz does give a great performance as the slacker in need of money. (9/10)
Support Cast: Nightcrawler doesn’t have the biggest support cast with most involved are part of the news team and we see how they start to know and respect Louis the more he brings them to work with.
Director Review: Dan Gilroy – Dan does a great job directing this making the film edge of the seat from start to finish. (10/10)
Crime: Nightcrawler shows the dark side of the crime world where people films what has been happening for money. (9/10)
Thriller: Nightcrawler is one of the most edge of your seat films that you will ever see. (10/10)
Settings: Nightcrawler uses the settings of Los Angeles brilliant to show the difference in the neighbourhoods as well as the people you will meet. (10/10)
Suggestion: Nightcrawler is just a must watch for everyone. (Just Watch)
Best Part: Car Chase.
Worst Part: Hard to find one.
Believability: These people are real but this extreme maybe not. (7/10)
Chances of Tears: No (0/10)
Chances of Sequel: This could very well have a sequel.
Post Credits Scene: No
Awards: Nominated for Golden Globe Best Actor and Nominated for four BAFTAs including Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay and Best Editing.
