Director and writer Dan Gilroy (writer of The Bourne Legacy (2012)) has created a gripping thriller set in LA's gruesome night-life. Jake Gyllenhaal (Prisoners, Brokeback Mountain) stars as Lou Bloom, a highly motivated man looking for a sustainable career with very little luck until he finds to world of crime journalism. The high-speed life of nightcrawling finds Lou and his employee Rick (Riz Ahmed) hunting down fires, car crashes and murders so that they can get their piece and sell it onto veteran TV news director Nina (Rene Russo). As Lou finds his business growing he continues to pursue bigger and bloodier stories, but how far will Lou go to achieve the perfect news story?
The stand-out aspect, of the whole film, is without a doubt Gyllenhaal. He manages to portray Lou, this deluded, self-important, creep with fathomless brilliance. Lou hands himself the title of CEO of his own 'professional news gathering service', yet in reality this is simply Lou and his 'employee' Rick sitting in Lou's car waiting on the most gruesome 911 call. Gyllenhaal's ability to play the emotionless, sociopathic Bloom carries this film to a height that it would otherwise only wish to be at. This is not to say other aspects of the film are poor, however, Nightcrawler is not a world beater.
The film, at times, is extremely thrilling and has the capability to get your heart pounding. On the other hand, when these pulsating scenes have come and gone the film has moments of feeling terribly slow. Additionally, although Lou Bloom is psychotic beyond compare with a moral compass that is simply non-existent, the development of Bloom as a character is lacking completely, with the viewer knowing everything about his make-up within 5 minutes.
Although the performances of Russo and Riz Ahmed (Four Lions) are perfectly admirable, Nightcrawler unfortunately has the feel of a one-man show as Jake Gyllenhaal will, for sure, get many nominations for this performance. Dan Gilroy has delivered an excellent directorial debut with moments of superb intensity with a lead character that you just cannot take your eyes off; unfortunately, the overall film is just slightly lacking.
Should be watched just for Gyllenhaal.
J.Henderson
7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment