Nightcrawler

Dan Gilroy’s directorial debut, Nightcrawler follows Jake Gyllenhaal’s Louis Bloom as he stumbles into the world of freelance video journalism – with the film detailing Bloom’s subsequent escapades within Los Angeles’ seedy underbelly. It’s clear immediately that Nightcrawler has been designed primarily to showcase Gyllenhaal’s undeniably spellbinding performance, as the movie, which runs a padded-out 117 minutes, is primarily focused on the protagonist’s increasingly sleazy antics – with Gilroy’s episodic screenplay paving the way for a film that’s generally watchable but rarely engrossing. There is, however, little doubt that Gyllenhaal’s mesmerizing work compensates for the movie’s deficiencies on an ongoing basis, as the actor becomes his intense and downright creepy character to a degree that’s nothing short of astonishing – with Gyllenhaal’s career-best turn here immediately launching him into the same realm as folks like Robert De Niro and Daniel Day-Lewis (ie he’s just that good). It’s unfortunate, then, that Gilroy isn’t able to infuse the narrative with a similar feeling of electricity, as Nightcrawler suffers from a decidedly repetitive midsection that’s compounded by a lethargic pace (ie the narrative seems to be mostly devoted to scene after scene in which Bloom races from one crime scene to the next). The film admittedly does grow more and more intriguing as it progresses into its comparatively spellbinding third act, which ultimately does confirm its place as a passable effort that boasts a seriously above-average central performance.

*** out of ****