Obsessed, Scary Jake Gyllenhaal in Electrifying 'Nightcrawler' (Review)

I like Jake Gyllenhaal for a lot of reasons. He's movie star handsome but hasn't really exploited his good looks. He prefers to do dark, offbeat movies instead of blockbusters (I think we can all forget Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time). And he's not scary intense like Christian Bale or Russell Crowe. Off the screen, that is.

In character, my boy Jakey G. has delivered some powerful performances in films like Zodiac, Enemy, Prisoners and Jarhead. But he tops himself in Nightcrawler, the directorial debut of screenwriter Dan Gilroy (brother to Tony "Michael Clayton" Gilroy and husband to Rene Russo). The film also stars Russo, Riz Ahmed and Bill Paxton. The film features a moody score by James Newton Howard (Hunger Games, The Dark Knight) and cinematography by Robert Elswit (There Will Be Blood, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol).

Gyllenhaal stars as Lou Bloom, an out of work LA guy who finds himself working as a nightcrawler, a person who listens for crimes on police recorders, tapes footage and sells them to news shows. Lou sells to Nina's (Rene Russo) show, the lowest rated program. Lou is extremely motivated. He's obsessed with doing well, reciting lessons he learned from online business classes, negotiating mercilessly and always looking out for his goals. He hires an assistant Rick (Ahmed) and sets out to become the best.

Nightcrawler functions on two levels: it is a satire of media sensationalism and a scathing look at a guy with sociopathic tendencies and an obsessive drive for success. While the film succeeds mostly on both levels, I have to say that it works better when focusing on the latter. We've seen media satires before (Network, Sweet Smell of Success, and the comedy Morning Glory come to mind). It's easy, low-hanging fruit to explore how news media want to show more blood and screaming victims than actually to report the truth.

Luckily, the film has an incredible protagonist in Lou Bloom and a powerhouse leading man in Jake Gyllenhaal. Lou is a manipulative self-starter so bent on success, that he isn't above blackmail and other shady dealings. We've seen Gyllenhaal go intense before like in Prisoners. But his performance as Lou goes even further off the deep end. His voice gets steely, his eyes fixate and it's really menacing.

There's a fabulous scene where Lou is giving a list of demands to Nina and with each item he takes a step closer to the camera and finishes the monologue with an ending line that got a "dayummmmmn" type response from the audience (fine, guys, just me).

If I recall correctly, then this is the first time Gyllenhaal is playing a villain/anti-hero type character and it suits him well. He has a such a boyish, charming persona that using it for such a horrible character is unsettling.

Rene Russo, after being a total boss in Thor: The Dark World, continues her comeback with another great acting job. While I enjoyed her performance, I wish her character had a bit more backbone. The character seems too passive and complacent as the film goes on. Riz Ahmed is fine as a young innocent who gets trapped by Lou. His nervous energy and desperation come through when tested by Lou. Bill Paxton is underused as a potential rival for Lou but gets a few choice scenes.

I love the look of the film. Dark but full of artificial light. The cinematography is exceptional. Gilroy makes a lot of great directorial choices, especially in the driving scenes. Some people have compared this film to the Ryan Gosling starrer Drive. It's a fair comparison (nighttime LA movie with lots of driving) but this film is going for more visceral thrills whereas the 2011 film was a melodrama with action hanging over it. Both are great films but Nightcrawler is a bit more effective.

I'd highly recommend Nightcrawler. Because it came out in Oscar season, there's been some Oscar talk. I think both Gyllenhaal and Russo are definitely in the running for Best Actor and Supporting Actress respectively. The cinematography and the script can also find their way into the nominees' list. However, I also think this movie is too dark and weird for old school Oscar voters. In the end, it doesn't matter. Nightcrawler does not need Oscar attention to get viewers. It's the type of film whose audience will seek it out and and love it all on their own.