Nightcrawler

Jake Gyllenhaal stars in Dan Gilroy's sinister, neo-noir crime thriller as sociopathic Louis Bloom, who prowls the dark streets of Los Angeles in his turbo-charged Dodge Challenger, equipped with a police scanner, in order to report accidents and crimes. Bloom, one of many freelance video stringers called “nightcrawlers,” routinely sells his footage to Nina (Rene Russo, married to Gilroy), a local graveyard-shift TV news director who is desperately hungry for ratings, arguing that viewers want to see “urban crime creeping into the suburbs.” Problem is: instead of remaining a passive bystander with a camera, Bloom brazenly begins to stage his own roadside carnage, re-arranging crime scenes—until he stumbles onto an apparent home invasion. Serving up a scathing media satire with scary elements, Nightcrawler captures the seedy violence in the fabled City of Angels, culminating in a thrilling, tension-filled conclusion. Exuding creepiness, wiry, wide-eyed Gyllenhaal nicely embodies delusionary Bloom, an outsider driven to achieve some kind of self-empowering identity. Also on hand are Riz Ahmed, as Bloom's nervous apprentice, and Bill Paxton, as a veteran videographer. A dark and cynical film—Oscar-nominated for its screenplay, which is full of savage commentary about our media's relentless exploitation of violence—this is recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by writer-director Dan Gilroy, producer Tony Gilroy, and editor John Gilroy, and an “If It Bleeds, It Leads” making-of featurette (5 min.). Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a small extras package for a thought-provoking slow-burn thriller.] (S. Granger)