Movie Reviews – Nightcrawler
Movie reviews this week looks at the dark thriller Nightcrawler starring the always dependable Jake Gyllenhall (Prince of Persia: Sands of time), as a down on his luck loner, seeking to get into a business that will earn him an income.
Contrary to the name of the movie, this is not related to a comic superhero, but the name given to on the scene videographers that film incidences of homicide, and accidents for local nightly news.
We join the movie with Louis Bloom played by Jake Gyllenhaal, actively looking for a job, he finds himself some construction materials, and without hesitation pockets them, and proceeds to sell them to any one who is willing to pay for them. The audience is left a void as to how Louis became this desperate but doesn’t get in the way of the story. He makes a good pitch as to why he should be hired, after obtaining the construction materials to a local construction firm, to which he is bluntly put down, despite his best effort, the prospective employer tells him that he will not hire a thief, which Louis nor the audience can argue with.
At this stage you are wondering if you can possibly side with our protagonist and his moral centre is certainly whatever works in getting him where he wants to be.
By some off chance he happens to come across Joe Loder played by the stalwart Bill Paxton (Big Love), filming a car crash for the local news, and queries how to get into that line of work.
Eventually he ends up meeting with Nina Romina played by the gorgeous Renee Russo(Thor, Lethal Weapon 3), and you can tell immediately there is some kind of romantic interest, albeit initially it is all from Louis. His attempts to flirt with her are met with “I am twice your age”.
Louis luckily finds some footage that Nina would like to air, and with an eye for what sells, he focuses on this line of work, competing with Joe in the process, to be the first to get to any macabre story.
Nina and Louis have a somewhat platonic relationship, and the audience is taken through Louis’s obession to initially filming items that are news worthy to bordering on creating the news, which could become problematic for all concerned.
Nightcrawler is a fascinating insight into a world most of us have never seen; a paparazzi obsession with gore and violence, and Jake Gyllenhaal gives an Oscar worthy performance in this dark thriller.
Movie Reviews is constantly updated with good reviews of good movies you don’t want to miss.
Filed under: Movie reviews