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Nightcrawler
Directed by Dan Gilroy
Released in 2014
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Louis Bloom, Rene Russo as Nina Romina, Riz Ahmed as Rick, Bill Paxton as Joe Loder and Michael Hyatt as Detective Fronteiri
A review by Sexy Celebrity on October 31, 2014.
I didn't know much about Nightcrawler going into it. For awhile, I wasn't even sure if I'd bother going to see it or if I'd wait until it came out on Blu-ray. The last Jake Gyllenhaal movie, Enemy, wasn't all that great, I thought. This one was giving me bad vibes. Jake doesn't look so good here. He lost about 30 pounds for the film and he wears his slightly longish hair in a stupid, itty bitty ponytail a lot.
This movie was a big improvement over Enemy. I can believe all the reports you might be hearing about this being a performance of a lifetime for Gyllenhaal. Why? Because he actually sort of loses himself in this. He plays a disturbed sociopath. A total a$$hole. I didn't even like him. I wanted to see him punished. I don't think there's another role that Jake Gyllenhaal has done that's like that. Usually he plays good guys.
The movie is not really about television news journalism and how depraved it may be. It is, but it isn't. It may be saying something about it, but the film is ultimately about twisted people. Rene Russo plays another twisted person, the director of a TV news team who falls in love with the gruesome footage that Louis Bloom (Gyllenhaal) brings to her. He starts out in the movie as a thief who sells his stolen goods to pawn shops and places to earn money. Then he stumbles upon a traffic accident and becomes intrigued by the cameramen and what they do. This leads him to getting a camera and a police scanner, followed by an assistant (Riz Ahmed). Since he's a sociopath, he has no conscience, and he's willing to do anything to get the most provocative footage from traffic accidents, shootouts, crime scenes, you name it. Luckily for him, Rene Russo is another sociopath, although she might not be as bad as him. He gets extreme closeups of victims -- he even breaks into the houses of crime scenes to get footage. It's probably illegal, but Rene Russo's Nina character loves it, and she buys it and puts it on the air.
Russo is a great addition to the cast. She really livens it up. Unfortunately, there's not really anybody else... the movie is running on fumes when it comes to actors. Even Russo's character just seems like a tough headed old Joan Rivers without much of a posse to give the film more warmth and a feeling of completeness. She simply has a standard, generic news team at her hands. A feel good movie this is not. Although, I was definitely entertained.
Bill Paxton is very unremarkable. I didn't even realize it was him. Riz Ahmed was really good as Gyllenhaal's assistant, possibly even the best character.
The film runs for about two hours. It's better in the last half than it is in the first half. I was on the edge of my seat... HOWEVER, thoughts like -- this is ridiculous, this is absurd -- were in my mind during the final five wrap-up minutes. It all starts to feel very unrealistic and cartoony. It's a shame because I feel that the true subject matter -- sociopaths and how dangerous they are -- is a very serious subject. But the movie ends on a cartoon note, making the film look like an extreme black comedy. The end credits scene even plays kind of lighthearted and corny and B movie-like, with a full moon and an outdoor scene for a backdrop and sort of silly/happy music on the soundtrack. In fact, thinking of Nightcrawler as a sort of B movie might not be a bad idea.
The worst moment is a major death scene that occurs at the end of the film -- one I expected to happen and I think you will, too, especially if you know movies. At times I laughed at the movie for odd reasons and I was reminded of Fight Club because of how gritty and dark and bloody and silly it was.
See it? Diehard Jake Gyllenhaal fans will not want to miss it. However, if he's your movie star boyfriend through the characters he plays in his movies, you might dump him after seeing Nightcrawler. Until the next movie he does, that is. Like I said, the cast is very minimal. It looks like a small scale movie, except during moments near the end. A female detective character played by Michael -- yes, MICHAEL -- Michael Hyatt was very good, though she's really only in two or three scenes.
I encourage people to go see this so Jakey can have a bigger box office return with Nightcrawler -- but my honest opinion? This feels like a rental. Or a Netflix. Or an illegal download. Whatever you do these days.
Nightcrawler is fun and engaging, dark and twisted, but a little aloof.
Directed by Dan Gilroy
Released in 2014
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Louis Bloom, Rene Russo as Nina Romina, Riz Ahmed as Rick, Bill Paxton as Joe Loder and Michael Hyatt as Detective Fronteiri
A review by Sexy Celebrity on October 31, 2014.
I didn't know much about Nightcrawler going into it. For awhile, I wasn't even sure if I'd bother going to see it or if I'd wait until it came out on Blu-ray. The last Jake Gyllenhaal movie, Enemy, wasn't all that great, I thought. This one was giving me bad vibes. Jake doesn't look so good here. He lost about 30 pounds for the film and he wears his slightly longish hair in a stupid, itty bitty ponytail a lot.
This movie was a big improvement over Enemy. I can believe all the reports you might be hearing about this being a performance of a lifetime for Gyllenhaal. Why? Because he actually sort of loses himself in this. He plays a disturbed sociopath. A total a$$hole. I didn't even like him. I wanted to see him punished. I don't think there's another role that Jake Gyllenhaal has done that's like that. Usually he plays good guys.
The movie is not really about television news journalism and how depraved it may be. It is, but it isn't. It may be saying something about it, but the film is ultimately about twisted people. Rene Russo plays another twisted person, the director of a TV news team who falls in love with the gruesome footage that Louis Bloom (Gyllenhaal) brings to her. He starts out in the movie as a thief who sells his stolen goods to pawn shops and places to earn money. Then he stumbles upon a traffic accident and becomes intrigued by the cameramen and what they do. This leads him to getting a camera and a police scanner, followed by an assistant (Riz Ahmed). Since he's a sociopath, he has no conscience, and he's willing to do anything to get the most provocative footage from traffic accidents, shootouts, crime scenes, you name it. Luckily for him, Rene Russo is another sociopath, although she might not be as bad as him. He gets extreme closeups of victims -- he even breaks into the houses of crime scenes to get footage. It's probably illegal, but Rene Russo's Nina character loves it, and she buys it and puts it on the air.
Russo is a great addition to the cast. She really livens it up. Unfortunately, there's not really anybody else... the movie is running on fumes when it comes to actors. Even Russo's character just seems like a tough headed old Joan Rivers without much of a posse to give the film more warmth and a feeling of completeness. She simply has a standard, generic news team at her hands. A feel good movie this is not. Although, I was definitely entertained.
Bill Paxton is very unremarkable. I didn't even realize it was him. Riz Ahmed was really good as Gyllenhaal's assistant, possibly even the best character.
The film runs for about two hours. It's better in the last half than it is in the first half. I was on the edge of my seat... HOWEVER, thoughts like -- this is ridiculous, this is absurd -- were in my mind during the final five wrap-up minutes. It all starts to feel very unrealistic and cartoony. It's a shame because I feel that the true subject matter -- sociopaths and how dangerous they are -- is a very serious subject. But the movie ends on a cartoon note, making the film look like an extreme black comedy. The end credits scene even plays kind of lighthearted and corny and B movie-like, with a full moon and an outdoor scene for a backdrop and sort of silly/happy music on the soundtrack. In fact, thinking of Nightcrawler as a sort of B movie might not be a bad idea.
The worst moment is a major death scene that occurs at the end of the film -- one I expected to happen and I think you will, too, especially if you know movies. At times I laughed at the movie for odd reasons and I was reminded of Fight Club because of how gritty and dark and bloody and silly it was.
See it? Diehard Jake Gyllenhaal fans will not want to miss it. However, if he's your movie star boyfriend through the characters he plays in his movies, you might dump him after seeing Nightcrawler. Until the next movie he does, that is. Like I said, the cast is very minimal. It looks like a small scale movie, except during moments near the end. A female detective character played by Michael -- yes, MICHAEL -- Michael Hyatt was very good, though she's really only in two or three scenes.
I encourage people to go see this so Jakey can have a bigger box office return with Nightcrawler -- but my honest opinion? This feels like a rental. Or a Netflix. Or an illegal download. Whatever you do these days.
Nightcrawler is fun and engaging, dark and twisted, but a little aloof.