Nightcrawler (2014)

[Rick Kitchen]

Oh, my God, Jake Gyllenhall puts on an acting clinic in this film.  I don't want to ascribe Asperger's to him, but he is verging on sociopath.  He has absolutely no qualms about the way he treats other people.  Plus the awful hair and buggy eyes.  And yet, man!  This movie is a joy to watch just for Jake.

 

May I add that I'm glad we didn't get sex scenes between Lou and Nina.

 

[cpcathy]

I had to ask my husband, "did she actually go along with the relationship?"

I really enjoyed this, I was not able to tell what was going to happen next. And Jake is really fantastic in it.
 

[Rick Kitchen]

I think Nina was just as ambitious (even at this place in her career) and realized that she needed to give Jake what he wanted to keep him because his work was boosting their ratings.

[purplemouth]

I haaaaaaaated this movie! Louis Bloom is the worst.

[Skyline]

Jake gives my favorite lead male performance of the year. I never knew he had it in him. So creepy.

[NoWillToResist]

I hated the main character in this movie with a fiery passion, so kudos to Jake I suppose?

 

I confess that I know basically nothing about American law and or news "journalism" so I found myself constantly amazed at what Louis was able to do without consequence.

 

Do police really arrive at a car crash and not even acknowledge the guy who is standing 2 inches away from the flipped car? He just walked past them with his camera and they didn't ask him a single thing???? Seriously? Sure, they don't know that he MOVED THE BODY in order to get a better lit shot, but no one even asked if he saw what had happened? Didn't the people who recreate what happened find a disconnect to the crash and the location of the body?

 

Are police really ok when a guy ducks under the yellow police tape, enters an active crime scene, starts taking footage and then sells it? Sure, they can't prove that he moved the stuff on the fridge door to make it a more poignant shot, but the rest of it? How did he not catch heat from the police?

 

Louis claims that he just happened to be driving in a swanky neighbourhood and just happened to hear an alarm from his car on the road and just happened to see a car screech away from the house and he decided to enter to render assistance if possible. That's absurd, but whatever, no one could prove otherwise so we move on. But he FILMED THE ENTIRE THING AND SOLD IT TO A NEWS CHANNEL, LEFT THE SCENE OF A TRIPLE HOMICIDE AND DIDN'T CALL THE AUTHORITIES AND THAT'S OK? You don't get into any legal troubles by traipsing all the fuck over a massive crime scene, taking video of the dead bodies, leaving the house and selling your snuff footage for profit and not bothering to call 911? Is that seriously ok in the American legal system??

 

And in the final action sequence after the fast food shoot out, he, A CIVILIAN, engages in a high speed chase among cop cars, ran numerous red lights etc. arrived at the car crash scene, didn't call it in, took his precious video and again, got to walk away without anyone asking him anything. Dude drives a very distinctive car. Any number of witnesses could cite him for countless traffic violations if nothing else.

 

The female cop at the end was on to him because the final chain of events made no fucking sense unless he was the master manipulator behind it all but without proof she can't get him. But can't she get him on lesser charges or misdemeanors for some of the stuff listed above?

 

This movie just depressed the fuck out of me because it just shows the worst in humanity; people like Nina and Louis wouldn't succeed if not for the unquenchable thirst of the American public for violence and blood. And that's just horrifying to me. At least Louis had the excuse of being a sociopath. What's our excuse?

[90PercentGravity]

I liked the movie right up until the end, but there was no end. It just stopped. I hate that! It's a pet peeve of mine. I don't need everything wrapped up in a neat bow, but there needs to be some kind of conclusion. This actually felt more like a TV pilot than a movie to me.

[Cementhead]

Just caught this last night on netflix.  I knew very little about it going in and am not a big Jake Gyllenhaal fan but I had nothing else to watch so decided to just settle on watching this after landing on 4 or 5 duds beforehand.  This is a stellar movie.  A definite 10/10.  The acting, the subject matter, the directing, etc. all top-notch.  Jake Gyllenhaal gave one of the best performances I have ever seen on film.  And I am happy to have finally introduced myself to Riz Ahmed.  shallow moment-- he is super cute.  This is one of those movies that you wake up thinking about the next morning.  And highly recommend to other people.  This is one of the very few times I have ever bothered to post a comment in the movies section.  It seems kind of pointless to do so on a movie that is old but I just felt compelled to.

Edited February 18, 2018 by Cementhead