NIGHTCRAWLER (BLU-RAY) - VARIO

Clever film, perceptive and satirical. Striking commentary on how media becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Quite a well-made and shot film. It sort of covers the successes of a conniving sociopath, and shows how these people can be successful in our world. It's a bit frightening in this respect, occaisionally unbelievable, but overall enjoyable, with some good acting from the main characters.Worth watching, and way better than the average film.

A lot of the 5 star reviews left here mention Jake Gyllenhaal's performance and quite rightly so. It's near perfect. His performance invokes memories of his breakthrough role in Donnie Darko. Here, he similarly plays the part of a social misfit but without the pyschological damage that his character suffered with in the aforementioned film. He does 'quirky' really well, probably better than anyone. In this role he quite obviously manifests autistic characteristics. I say this as one having some of those myself. While this aspect isn't explored in any detail it does show how well he has researched his role and in turn how well he has crafted this believable person.However, I'm not sure his acting alone merits 5 stars. The story is interesting and disturbing in equal measure. The camera work is very close and often just over the shoulder adding to the immersion of the experience. The story was well paced. The action sequences were well shot and the house invasion scene in particular ramped up the tension.As I've said, there was a lot to like about this film so it took me a while to work out why I felt pretty short changed at the end of it. In a word - credibility.First of all, the main character is socially isolated having only 2 significant relationships that are developed over the course of the movie. He is above average intelligence and while he is socially inept he has a very good understanding of social mechanics. As a result, he is very adept at manipulating people. Ok, I I can buy into that. That's fine, but the extent to which he manipulates other intelligent people and the way in which they just sort of crumble in front of him........... that's where the film lost me. I will only suspend my disbelief so far and then I just get frustrated. Surely, in a real world situation, if a course of action goes beyond just being questionable and enters the realms of outright gross indecency and criminal activity you would distance yourself from it. You wouldn't buckle just because someone is a bit clever with words. In fact the character in question actually outs him as a liar but then within seconds proceeds to believe what he's next told. This chopping and changing of character's core beliefs is frustrating and only adds to the issue the film has with credible character development.Second, in the last third of the film when the law starts investigating his news footage I just felt like shouting at the characters on screen. I mean some serious s**t happens in this movie (SPOILER ALERT) which is all caught on camera including the killings of police officers which leads to him being investigated. So, if you suspect that a cameraman is a bit dodgy and have plenty of footage as evidence then get a court order, confiscate all of his gear and do a forensic search of his hard drives and memory cards. Banging him up in an interview room for 10 minutes and trying to intimidate him before releasing him back into the world scot free just doesn't cut it with me. So, what does this teach us? Two things. First, crime pays. Second, the police are pretty crap at detective work.For me at least, the film would have done better not bringing in the investigation subplot. I don't feel that the story benefited from it and only exposed some really annoying plot holes.For the above reasons, in my opinion, this film is not a classic but neither is it a howler. However, before being able to enjoy it you must be willing to extend your suspension of disbelief an extra mile or two as it struggles with credibility issues.

Okay, so please don’t tell me that I’m the only person who, every time he sees the word ‘Nightcrawler,’ thinks about the blue, vampire-like teleporter from X-men? All right, just me then. Anyway, this film – also entitled ‘Nightcrawler’ has absolutely nothing to do with superpowered mutants and more to do with the dark, seedy behind-the-scenes world of modern newsrooms. I do like X-men, but I like this more.Jake Gyllenhaal – once again – plays a brooding and possibly damaged character. We’re never really given much backstory regarding how or why he’s like he is. He just is. And he’s just dark – possibly a modern day sociopath. While I was watching this film, all I could think of was ‘American Psycho.’ Not that Jake spends his evenings slicing up ladies of the night. He’s far more subtle than that. He doesn’t set out to cause misfortune, he simply realises that there’s money to be made from other people’s suffering and therefore decides to exploit this situation by becoming an independent cameraman on the streets of L.A.It’s fair to say that this is hardly a ‘noble profession’ and he quickly discovers that he has to cut the metaphorical throat of anyone who stands in his way. Watch out rival cameraman played by Bill Paxton – it’s not just aliens, Terminators and Predators who are out to get you! Gyllenhaal’s character adapts with ease to this lifestyle, happy to step on anyone who gets in his way in pursuit of the next big scoop. In many films they say you have to ‘relate’ to the central character in order to enjoy the story. I doubt many of us will ‘relate’ to a man who is quite happy to trample anyone who gets in his way in order to further his own ambition, but then I doubt many people felt like they identified with Patrick Bateman and ‘American Psycho’ was a pretty big hit!If you watch ‘Nightcrawler’ you need to be prepared for a pretty bleak and dark insight into the way the world (or rather modern day news) works. It’s hardly a ‘feel-good’ film and the whole show rests on Gyllenhaal’s shoulders, but, as with many of his films before, he carries it all the way. It’s weirdly hypnotic and you’ll want to see just how far he’ll go to achieve his self-serving ends.Ultimately, it’s another notch on Gyllenhaal’s impressive range of deeply disturbed characters. Don’t expect a laugh a minute, side-splitting two hours, just get ready to descend into the underbelly of society and what it takes to get those ‘exclusive’ pictures on CNN or Sky News.