At The Omniplex: ‘Nightcrawler’

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Jake Gyllenhaal in ‘Nightcrawler’.

‘Nightcrawler’

by John Lyons

“If you want to win the lottery, you have to make the money to buy a ticket.”

…that is, according to Jake Gyllenhaal in the new noir-suspense film, ‘Nightcrawler’.

A few weeks back I listed ‘Nightcrawler’ as one of the films to look out for in the coming months, but at the time there was no set release date for ‘Nightcrawler’ in the UK and Ireland. I even began to doubt if it was going to get a release here at all…

As it turned out, ‘Nightcrawler’ received a release date for Halloween! So yesterday I popped down to the cinema to see if the film was all that it was cracked up to be.

Thirty pounds lighter, cheekbones bulging and eyeballs popping, Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Louis Bloom, a loner existing on the night-time fringes of Los Angeles.

Bloom is a petty thief who’s stealing and selling scrap metal in order to make a meagre living. He’s a man with a strong belief in the American Dream.

He wants to make his way to the top, but there doesn’t seem to be a particular line of work that he wants to venture down. He’ll settle for any job as long as it offers him the opportunity to work his way up the ladder.

One night he’s driving home on the freeway, and he happens upon a car accident. Intrigued, he pulls over and observes.

A local news van screeches to a halt beside the accident and a pair of cameramen pile out of the van and begin filming the wreckage. The following morning the footage is featured on the news. Lou has a revelation and truly believes that he’s suddenly found his new line of work.

Lou scrapes together the money to afford a camera and a police radio. After hiring an assistant, he sets out to capture gruesome footage of crime scenes.

Lou begins to make a name for himself at a local news station due to his tenacious nature of stealthily venturing into crime scenes and recording footage that his competitors can’t compete with.

That is, until he arrives at one particular crime scene before the authorities, and captures footage of something that he shouldn’t have seen.

What’s interesting about ‘Nightcrawler’ is that even though it has a great story, regarding a topic that I’ve never seen covered on film before, it’s first and foremost an intense character study of the peculiar character Louis Bloom.

Jake Gyllenhaal has always been a fantastic actor, but he’s never been as good as he is in this film. He really does go above and beyond. Although we’re introduced to Lou Bloom as a criminal, it didn’t take too long for me to admire his sheer determination.

Bloom overcomes every and any obstacle in his way, regardless of the possible consequences that he may face. But what’s interesting is, about halfway through ‘Nightcrawler’, it became abundantly clear that his determination was both his greatest asset and his biggest fault.

Bloom is hell-bent on being in a position of power. But whenever he does find himself in a powerful position, he abuses it for his advantage, regardless of who he may hurt in the process.

As the film unravels we see that Bloom is a man filled with greed who won’t let anything stop him from getting what he wants.

Gyllenhaal’s performance allows ‘Nightcrawler’ to delve into the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles after dark.

First time writer/director Dan Gilroy has crafted an incredibly fascinating character study and a film that bleeds with both tension and a constant unnerving atmosphere. I was impressed with Gilroy’s visual flair, which is reminiscent of films like ‘Drive’ and ‘Mulholland Drive’.

‘Nightcrawler’ really is unlike any film that I’ve seen before. It’s deals with such an unusual subject matter yet manages to use that to it’s advantage. Again, Gyllenhaal’s performance was what drew me into this film. And once I was drawn in, my eyes were glued to the film throughout.

I was wondering this week if I should be believing the hype about ‘Nightcrawler’, because I didn’t want to be disappointed due to my high expectations. Not only was I not disappointed, I was impressed.

8/10

Follow John Lyons on Twitter: @Fireinthelyons

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