Nightcrawler (Film Review)

The way media is presented nowadays has been pretty harsh, and honest. It must've been a new trend. Gone Girl depicts it as scripted, unreliable that viewers would still believe what they saw, regardless if it's true or not. In 'Nightcrawler', Dan Gilroy's phenomenal directorial debut, looks on the dirty underground of broadcasting-- with television producers' desperation to the American dream.

Louis Bloom is a guy who's a thief and hustler. He wants to do something else only thing no one wants to give him a chance. One day he witnesses an accident and while the CHP helps the driver, some men show up and record the whole thing. He learns that they intend to sell the footage to a TV news program. So Bloom decides to get into it. He starts small.

Eventually the station where he sells his footage to, is impressed with him. Later he comes across a murder and gets there before the police do and records the dead bodies. But he also manages to get the killers on tape but doesn't give it. Instead he intends to wait till he can call the police and record them being arrested. But it doesn't exactly work out that way.

I love 'Nightcrawler', it's always a delight to see something fresh, and unique outside blockbusters or sequels because what they've done here is unlike anything we've seen before. And it's always a treat to watch a character that will be talked about for years to come.

Suspense is the main key to this film's success, it builds and builds to the point where the last twenty minutes are completely unpredictable. The car chase sequence in the anti-climactic final act will have you nail-biting, and palm sweating all throughout. Dan Gilroy did an excellent job in making the suspense in this thing, giving the energy and pulse-rating beat the film deserved.

Lou Bloom's colleagues in the film, Nina (Rene Russo, in a phenemonal performance), a struggling television producer and Rick (the hilarious Riz Ahmed), the desperate intern, tried to gain leverage because they want what Bloom can give them -- money and success. The risks he takes and the lines he crosses are mainly upright ones at first, but he quickly realizes the quickest way to make a name for himself is to get the best angle/ shot. The kind that requires taking bigger risks, that leads to sacrificing lives.

The career-defining performance of Jake Gyllenhaal will be one of the most memorable for the year through Lou Bloom. Gyllenhaal provides the truest portrayal of a sociopath to the character-- the moment you see him 'til the Norman Bates-esque stare to the viewer at the movie's ending. And what's fascinating is that the actor went on a serious weight loss diet by starving himself, now that's real dedication. All I can say is Lou Bloom will be up there with on-screen icons like Travis Bickle and Patrick Bateman.

The geek rates it 9/10!