Nobody does charismatic psychopath quite like Gyllenhaal.

Jake Gyllenhaal sure knows how to pick ’em, movies that is. Steering clear of most mainstream movie franchises, Gyllenhaal takes on roles that are both complex and entertaining. With movies like End of Watch, Brothers, Zodiac and Jarhead under his belt, Gyllenhaal no doubt shines brightest when taking on these more independent film roles. His performance as Lou Bloom in Dan Gilroy’s NIGHTCRAWLER is no exception. Nobody does charismatic psychopath quite like Gyllenhaal. 

Lou Bloom is hard working, determined, focused and persuasive. He’s also unhinged, manipulative, creepy and a felon. In this gripping LA drama, Bloom is a news room wannabe who finds himself working freelance as a ‘nightcrawler.’ Armed with a police radio and a rookie camera, Bloom trolls the late night streets, looking for car-wreck footage, shootings and basically anything a little gruesome, in order to sell footage to TV News – a sector he’s scarily focused on making it in. 

Gyllenhaal gives the performance of his career as the damaged nightcrawler, with a darkly comedic Travis Bickle-esque quality to him, playing this charming manipulator with absolute ease. With his sunken cheeks, lank hair, hollow eyes and skinny frame, Gyllenhaal as Bloom is noticeable, physically different and it completely plays in his favour. Alongside the aesthetic differences, Bloom is hideously strange. Something about him makes audiences completely uneasy. However, Gyllenhaal’s comedic deliverance of a sharp, quick-witted dialogue gives him this strangely likable quality. Audiences are almost rooting for him, finding themselves doing a quick air bump whenever Bloom gets the shot he wants. His ability to manipulate his poorly paid employee, Rick – played brilliantly by relative newcomer Riz Ahmed (Four Lions), in a humorous and initially constructive way, makes Bloom seem both likable and charming. 

The film was shot both digitally and on film and is visually compelling in its own sense. Shot like a quickening pulse, audiences feel captivated as if in their own news flash. A sense of urgency and flight fills their veins, ultimately leading to the third act, which is by far the strongest, where a false sense of security is dashed in one last hit.

At 117 minutes long, Dan Gilroy brilliantly quickens the pace, just as you’re expecting an enjoyable resolution, and throws a thrilling curve-ball, leaving viewers breathless and exhausted in cinematic bliss. 

Written by Gilroy also, the dialogue in this drama resembles the calm before the storm of mother natures worst. Delivered expertly by Gyllenhaal, Bloom’s monologues are by far the best part of the script. Dripping with tension and completely shocking, but delivered in the most tranquil and matter-of-fact way, that audiences are unsure as to what they’ve just heard, did he really say that? With those sunken, unblinking eyes and raw, condescending words, the marrying of Gilroy’s sophisticated writing and Gyllenhaal’s deprived performance, is nothing short of genius. One scene in particular, where Lou takes his boss, Nina (Rene Russo), to dinner and, like a surgeon, dissects her career to his own advantage, making threats in the most charming and level headed way, is truly something from a horror movie, so perfectly disguised as a simple ‘date night’. Truly terrifying. 

The hype behind this movie as a psychological thriller was fairly high and there’s no doubt that NIGHTCRAWLER lives up to the majority of that. It is completely Gyllenhaal’s masterpiece, so wonderfully married with Gilroy’s directorial debut ending in an impressive, tense, black comedy that leaves its audience torn by their own feelings for Gyllenhaal’s hideous, fabulous anti-hero.

Verdict

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