BY RILEY COVEN
“You have to make the money to buy a ticket.”
The self-proclaimed philosophy of Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) drives the brutal and sleek story of Dan Gilory’s ‘Nightcrawler.’ From the very first scene to the last the audience follows Bloom and his attempts to do whatever it takes to be successful. He is brutal, sleek and unrelenting. In a fantastic performance from Gyllenhaal we watch as he continues on his mission to be somebody and become increasingly more desperate as time goes on.
Dan Gilroy’s directorial debut creates a beautiful and violent world of crime throughout Los Angeles and the constantly evolving story brings the viewer into the film with rapt attention. The constant suspense throughout the film is what makes is such an effective thriller.
Even in simple scenes with Gyllenhaal maintain conversations with other minor characters the sense of danger is always present. Highlighted by a chaotic and evolving score, Lou Bloom becomes a character that is enthralling and yet unnerving at the same time. With a screenplay filled with terrific and terrifying monologues for Gyllenhaal to feast on and brutal scenes of shocking violence, the film continues its fast paced and chaotic arc.
With other strong performances surrounding him, there is never a dull moment and the film never ceases its excitement. Specifically, Riz Ahmed’s turn as Rick is worth mentioning. Playing Bloom’s employee throughout the film, his fear and logical style of thinking counters Bloom’s recklessness well. The interaction between the two is terrifying and full of anxiety. Ahmed’s performance plays well off of Gyllenhaal’s and together they create some fantastic scenes together.
While there is a lot to be said for the strong points of the film, there were some weaknesses as well. The script, while full of gripping dialogue, left some story elements to be desired. While the fast paced excitement of the film was engaging, it sometimes affected the story itself and occasionally felt rushed. There were multiple scenes that either felt unnecessary or weren’t fleshed out enough to be satisfying. The multitude of characters that were introduced helped maintain the unrelenting chaos in the movie but could’ve been much better had they been properly explored.
What made this movie so interesting was the originality of the subject and idea but with a rushed feel it fell victim to cliché-ridden scenes every once in a while. The best thing this movie had going for it was the new ideas and social commentary on today’s media but with no real moments that touched on the ideas they were trying to portray it occasionally fell flat. There were sections of the movie that realized its message very clearly and created some thought provoking scenes but overall the uneven pacing held it back from fully saying what it wanted to.
Overall the film was a very good one and very well made. Dan Gilroy had an impressive debut as a director and the performances were enthralling and the only real downsides were the rushed script and odd pacing.
