The end of the year is here. While catching up on things I missed this year, I remembered Nightcrawler, Dan Gilroy's 2014 neo-noire love letter to "Stringers" i.e. people who video crime scenes and sell the footage to TV stations. This movie was lauded as one of the best of last year. Unfortunately, Nightcrawler failed to live up to the hype.
While I'm no stranger to the hype machine and it's shortcomings, for the movie to have a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes and for it to end up in 29 reviewers top movie lists of the year, I expected more. While the performances are stellar and the writing a cut above the usual rut that we're used to by now, the film doesn't reach the peaks that other movies in it's league manage. To give you an idea, Full Metal Jacket and The Silence of the Lambs also hold 95% ratings. On any given day, I would rather watch those films.
That's not to say Nightcrawler is bad, it's good, but it's just that; good. It's a film that you can watch and not feel like you wasted your money and your time, but it's not a landmark in cinema. While it's clear that a hell of a lot of work was put into researching Stringers and their tactics, Nightcrawler falls prey to modern film-making. The pacing is off. The film will spend 30 minutes on a single week, and then skip forward two months only to explain how the main character gets a faster car in order to progress the story.
Let's focus on the story. Lou Bloom is a thief looking for a career. He "doesn't have what you would call a formal education" and he learns about business tactics by reading articles online. To the film's credit, his constant regurgitation of things he clearly read about is well implemented, and this is one of the few places where the film shows true promise.
Lou then sees two stringers film a crash and decides that this is what he wants to make a career out of. After buying a piece of shit camcorder and a police radio he finds himself at a crime scene where he films a near-death man. He manages to get a close shot and takes it to a station to sell it. The news director loves it and becomes almost like a mentor to him. Okay, now I'm all for Lou to be good at filming, If films have taught us anything, it's that when the main character does something we would not be able to, that's a free suspension of disbelief. Remember this point. It comes in later.
After one night, Lou then decides to hire an assistant. Rick, a down on his luck 20-something who's homeless and has next to no experience applies and gets the job because - um... because Lou's eccentric and has a scheme! Rick is essentially just a vehicle for Lou so we can see how crazy he is.
Together they film more and more crimes until 2 months later they're driving a mother-fucking Dodge Challenger. Let me get something straight, the Dodge Challenger SRT that Lou drives costs $47,000. You imagine that Lou would have to pay cash due to his past, so he amassed that amount in 2 months.The only way my disbelief is still suspended is because it's hanged itself from the ceiling.
Anyways, Lou encounters some competition from another Stringer who's been in the game longer then he has. He can only afford two shitty news vans *ahem* and Lou misses one crime because he chose not to join up with him. Not 5 minutes later, we see the Stringer in a car accident. Now I'm all for coincidence, but come on. Lou is allowed to be adept at filming, but when he's essentially playing on God mode, we stop relating and it becomes like actually watching a car wreck. We just want to see what happens next, without actually caring about the people involved.
The film ends with a climactic car chase that feels more out of place than your uncles funny shirt at a funeral. Again, credit where credit is due, that scene was better shot than the movie would build you up to expect, and it will have you on the edge of your seat.
Lou
What the fuck. He reminds me of Nicholas Cage in the Ghostrider movies. He's weird, but not justifiably or relatably so. He just does different things and is clearly a sociopath. While I don't need a saint as my protagonist, I need someone I can relate to. Lou is the opposite of that. He essentially murders his partner, blackmails a woman into sleeping with him; repeatedly and he withholds information about wanted criminals just to get his shot. Look at Walter White, he did worse things, but we knew why he did and we saw what led him to do so. It was more than just a paycheck for him. Lou never develops past that point. What I feel obligated to point out though, is Jake Gyllenhaal's performance. Regardless of the material he was given, he was an inspiration. I have a feeling he'll be popping up much more prominently in the coming years.
I stress again, Nightcrawler is far from a bad film. It's just not nearly as good as people have been saying. Watch it if only to know for yourself, but don't expect to be blown away.
