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Nightcrawler is the story of a man named Louis Bloom who is looking for a job. One night while driving he discovers a job that could be perfect for him. It involves people finding accidents and crime scenes and getting to the scene before or just as the police get there. Filming the aftermath, they sell the footage to news stations. Louis proves that he’s willing to do just about anything in his new job and begins to do well. At least for a while..
Now that I’ve talked about story I’d like to move on to acting. First of all, Jake Gyllenhall is nothing short of astounding. Every single moment he is on screen you can’t take your eyes off of him. He is mesmerizing. Jake Gyllenhall embodies Louis Bloom in this movie, he IS the character and it’s amazing to see. I cannot stress enough how amazing Jake Gyllenhall is in this movie. There are reasons that I think he is so great in this film. For one, when he looks at someone in the film, he analyzes them and seems like he is sizing them up, going over the numbers in his head as his character would do. Gyllenhall has a great number of monologues and every single one is delivered perfectly. If nothing else, see this film for Gyllenhall’s performance. You will not be disappointed.
Rene Russo is also in this movie and she was very good in this too. She and Gyllenhall have great scenes together and you can really feel the tension in the room when they’re together.
Bill Paxton is decent in this movie, even though he doesn’t get much screen time. Paxton’s acting was fine, but I had a bit of a problem with his character. At times, he felt a bit too much like a mean jock from a high school drama. He had lines like “Think about it brah.” and stuff like that and I found it hard to take him or his character seriously when he was on screen because of lines like these.
Robert Elswit, the director of photography for There Will Be Blood and most of P.T.A’s films was the director of photography for Nightcrawler, and of course the camera work was great. The dark lighting really helped keep the sinister and ominous mood of the film. The camerawork was definitely a plus.
I sort of had a problem with the music in the film. I felt that it was a bit too peppy and happy for the film. Especially when it was playing during dark disturbing scenes, it just felt too out of place and created some strange mood swings and tonal shifts.
One last problem I had with it was that it dragged just a little bit at the beginning, but once you really get into it you’ll find yourself leaning forward in your seat in anticipation.
I really liked Nightcrawler, it has a lot of the things I like. A great central character and great acting, great camerawork, great writing (for the most part) and a truly involving story that kept me literally on the edge of my seat. Also, this is one of the darkest movies I’ve seen in a while at the theater other than Gone Girl. And I LOVE dark movies, so it’s safe to say that I LOVED Nightcrawler. I would highly recommend it, especially to Gyllenhall fans.
Nightcrawler is the story of a man named Louis Bloom who is looking for a job. One night while driving he discovers a job that could be perfect for him. It involves people finding accidents and crime scenes and getting to the scene before or just as the police get there. Filming the aftermath, they sell the footage to news stations. Louis proves that he’s willing to do just about anything in his new job and begins to do well. At least for a while..
Now that I’ve talked about story I’d like to move on to acting. First of all, Jake Gyllenhall is nothing short of astounding. Every single moment he is on screen you can’t take your eyes off of him. He is mesmerizing. Jake Gyllenhall embodies Louis Bloom in this movie, he IS the character and it’s amazing to see. I cannot stress enough how amazing Jake Gyllenhall is in this movie. There are reasons that I think he is so great in this film. For one, when he looks at someone in the film, he analyzes them and seems like he is sizing them up, going over the numbers in his head as his character would do. Gyllenhall has a great number of monologues and every single one is delivered perfectly. If nothing else, see this film for Gyllenhall’s performance. You will not be disappointed.
Rene Russo is also in this movie and she was very good in this too. She and Gyllenhall have great scenes together and you can really feel the tension in the room when they’re together.
Bill Paxton is decent in this movie, even though he doesn’t get much screen time. Paxton’s acting was fine, but I had a bit of a problem with his character. At times, he felt a bit too much like a mean jock from a high school drama. He had lines like “Think about it brah.” and stuff like that and I found it hard to take him or his character seriously when he was on screen because of lines like these.
Robert Elswit, the director of photography for There Will Be Blood and most of P.T.A’s films was the director of photography for Nightcrawler, and of course the camera work was great. The dark lighting really helped keep the sinister and ominous mood of the film. The camerawork was definitely a plus.
I sort of had a problem with the music in the film. I felt that it was a bit too peppy and happy for the film. Especially when it was playing during dark disturbing scenes, it just felt too out of place and created some strange mood swings and tonal shifts.
One last problem I had with it was that it dragged just a little bit at the beginning, but once you really get into it you’ll find yourself leaning forward in your seat in anticipation.
I really liked Nightcrawler, it has a lot of the things I like. A great central character and great acting, great camerawork, great writing (for the most part) and a truly involving story that kept me literally on the edge of my seat. Also, this is one of the darkest movies I’ve seen in a while at the theater other than Gone Girl. And I LOVE dark movies, so it’s safe to say that I LOVED Nightcrawler. I would highly recommend it, especially to Gyllenhall fans.