NIGHTCRAWLER written and directed by Dan Gilroy, with Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed, Rene Russo and Bill Paxton. An Elevation Pictures release. 117 minutes. Opens Friday (October 31). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NNNN
Screenwriter Dan Gilroy (Freejack, Two For The Money) makes his directorial debut with this twitchy Los Angeles thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a creepy loner who worms his way into a career as a freelance videographer, chasing car crashes and murders and selling his footage to a TV news director (Rene Russo) who’s just as ethically flexible as he is.
Gilroy’s script is less interested in social commentary than in crafting a slippery character study, and Gyllenhaal is perfectly suited to that – face gaunt, eyes blazing with demented self-confidence and showing no humanity whatsoever, he’s like a man grown out of synthetic meat in a lab somewhere.
And his performance keeps you watching even as Nightcrawler backs itself into a narrative corner.
