NIGHTCRAWLER - Wednesday 3rd December 2014.

As an Actor, I like Jake Gyllenhaal, and I think he is amassing a fine body of work that takes in 'Donny Darko', 'Source Code', 'Brokeback Mountain', 'Zodiac', last years 'Prisoners' and now 'NIGHTCRAWLER' which I saw last night. This is Directed by first timer Dan Gilroy, who is not new to the world of big screen entertainment having written 'The Bourne Legacy', 'Two for the Money' 'Real Steel' and the Screenplay for this film too amongst others. As a first outing in the Director's chair, Gilroy can be very proud of his achievement putting together a taught, tense thriller that delivers on many levels - not the least of which is in the story itself and more notably the outstanding performance of his star - Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead role. Made for just US$8.5M it has already taken over US$35M at the global Box Office at the time of writing.

The story centres around Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) who when we are introduced to him is stealing scrap metal for on selling to a merchant. In the process we see him overcome a Security Guard and rob him of his expensive looking wrist watch. He asks the scrap metal merchant for a job but is told they don't hire 'thieves' even though the merchant buys his (stolen) wares. He later steals a very expensive road racing bicycle which he moves on at a pawn shop, and this is how Lou Bloom makes his money - living day to day hand to mouth in a very modest apartment on the outskirts of LA. We know nothing of his back story, and it's not important. We can assume however, that he is a loner cobbling together a very meagre existence.

One evening while driving home on the freeway he pulls over at the scene of a horrific car accident, where two Police Officers are frantically pulling a woman out of wrecked blazing car. This accident is being filmed by two hungry news hounds - one of which is Joe Loder (Bill Paxton) capturing footage of the car wreck and its aftermath from every angle. The next morning this scene of devastation is being blurted out in graphic detail on the early morning TV news, and so a plan is hatched by Lou Bloom that this is a world too in which he could excel and start-up with minimal investment. And so, using the funds from the pawn shop and store credits from the sale of the road bike - he secures a camcorder and a Police Scanner and is in business!

That night tuning into the Police frequencies he gets the early heads up on motor vehicle accidents, crime scenes, shootings, stabbings, fires, murders, attacks and drug busts and quickly races off to be amongst the first at the scene to capture as much of the death, destruction, blood and violence as he can for the local TV channels who are hungry for such 'exclusive' footage. After initially stumbling through his video capture efforts he becomes more savvy and astute and gets to the scene either before or at the same time as his competitor Joe Loder who has been 'night crawling' for 14 years and is a veteran - telling Lou in passing that 'if it bleeds, it leads'!

Having some early success he begins selling his nightly video footage to a local TV channel, and forging a working relationship with morning news Director Nina Romina (Rene Russo), who pay him on the spot for worthy footage. He wants to take the relationship much further he tells her over a Mexican dinner one evening that will leave you cold as his diatribe spews forth, but she is having none of it! As the story progresses Lou gets more adept at searching out the more newsworthy incidents, and so his success grows. He buys a new fast car, invests in new camera equipment, Police Scanners, GPS and has already taken on an Assistant, Rick (Riz Ahmed) a young almost homeless guy desperate for money who accepts a wage of $30 a night cash oblivious to the dangers involved - much to his chagrin later on.

Lou has big plans for his fledgling business given the success he is garnering and his sometimes unscrupulous tactics at securing his footage. He is not afraid to manipulate crime scenes or the scene of an accident to accentuate the drama and spectacle for the viewers - for he knows that this gains viewers, improves the ratings, makes him more bankable and more powerful with the TV channels. Lou is very well spoken, chooses his words wisely, is confident, brash and not backward and coming forward. He is also cold, calculating, creepy and slightly unhinged and he goes through his personal and new found business life with an icy determination, a steely resolve and an almost win at all costs commitment - which we see in all its glory as his big news story comes to a very graphic conclusion.

The story is fast paced and Gyllenhaal as our anti-hero delivers what could be described as a career defining performance. He shed 20lbs in weight for this role and despite his gaunt, drawn and wiry physical presence he more than balances this with his disturbing thought processes, wide piercing eyes, articulate dexterity and acutely serious but slightly comedic persona that in many lines of well written dialogue is edgy, sinister and disturbing.

With our ever increasing insatiable appetite for true crime, murder, mishaps, mayhem, incidents, accidents, violence and death delivered almost instantly to our TV screens and across the Internet, this film delivers an insight told chillingly and thrillingly about those who curb that appetite and quench our thirst for more telling headlines and graphic images above the feel good news stories that increasingly fade into the background, and occupy less column inches and screen time. One of the films of the year!

    

-Steve, at Odeon Online-