Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Nightcrawler Blu-ray Movie Review

"I'd like to think if you're seeing me you're having the worst day of your life."

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown February 7, 2015

Oscar Snub Season is once again upon us. Among this year's hotly debated victims: Selma, Gone Girl, Interstellar, The LEGO Movie, Locke, Big Eyes, Force Majeure, Life Itself and Nightcrawler. The best of 2014's non-winners? Critics and audiences seem to have narrowed the most offensive snubs to three films: Selma, which somehow failed to earn acting or directing nods (despite a much-deserved nomination for Best Picture), The LEGO Movie, bizarrely overlooked in the Best Animated Feature category, and Nightcrawler, without question one of the best films of the year and, now, one of the Academy's most tragically overlooked. Though nominated for Best Original Screenplay, Dan Gilroy's chilling, utterly mesmerizing study of a career-driven sociopath could have been a staple of several major categories, including Supporting Actress (Rene Russo), Actor (Jake Gyllenhaal), Director, and Best Picture. Adding insult to injury, two Best Picture spots remain empty, with only eight out of a possible ten slots filled. (Three of which are occupied by decent but divisive, largely unremarkable biopics: The Imitation Game, The Theory of Everything and American Sniper.) Could Nightcrawler have won? Gyllenhaal might have nabbed a Best Actor statue, and even then it would come down to a neck and neck race with Michael Keaton and Steve Carell, but Best Picture? Not in a year dominated by Birdman, Boyhood and other stunning achievements in film.

Gyllenhaal doesn't need an Oscar nomination to make Nightcrawler an unforgettably intense character drama, though. The film doesn't need to be counted among the Best Picture nominees to make it one of the most gripping thrillers of the year. It doesn't need any awards attached to its name to pull off everything Gilroy set out to accomplish, and more. Nightcrawler is a taught, riveting, stomach-knotting nail-biter that doesn't let up for a second, and the only real snub to be dealt is by those who pass it by without so much as a rent.

Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Lou Bloom, a driven but disturbed young man who discovers the high-speed world of L.A. crime. Stumbling across a group of freelance camera crews that film crashes, fires, murder and other mayhem for news networks, Lou muscles into the cut-throat, dangerous realm of nightcrawling, where each police siren wail equals a possible windfall and victims are converted into dollars. Aided by Nina (Rene Russo), a veteran of the blood-sport that is local TV news, and desperate for work, Lou blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story.

Nightcrawler hinges on Gilroy and Gyllenhaal's double down presentation of Lou's self-realization, not as a traditional sociopath but as an American success story willing to do anything and everything necessary to make something of himself. A brief but crucial introduction tells us all we need to know: Lou is an unscrupulous thief, a monster of impulse (who angles for a job minutes after assaulting a security guard), and an internet-addled creature of calculation and obsession. Soon, though, Lou isn't asking for anything. He takes it. All of it. And he works so hard it almost begins to seem as if he deserves it. There's a sharp undercurrent of satire -- unchecked capitalism as serial stringer; political permissiveness as ratings-driven news -- and the film is cleverly devoid of empathy, moral justice and likable characters. It's a risk to be sure; a gamble that relies on its audience's eagerness to follow Gyllenhaal's high-functioning, self-made madman through a series of increasingly tense manipulations of crime scenes and co-workers. But it pays off. Bloom is a terrifying predator, yes. Unsettling and unremorseful. He's also one of modern cinema's most magnetic maniacs, making it that much more difficult to look away.

Gyllenhaal anchors Nightcrawler with a wide-eyed, high-strung intensity that threatens to burn out but rarely even flickers. Lou may reel at times, scrambling to keep ahead of the truth, but the performance never does. Deceptively measured and nuanced, Gyllenhaal's delivery is both unnerving and aggressive, with the actor's unwavering confidence being the only personal connection he shares with the character. There's a sense that, at any moment, Lou might snap, and God help anyone in his way. But there's never a sense that Gyllenhaal is out of control or unsure of how to proceed, or that Dan Gilroy or editor John Gilroy will fail to fold such a dominating performance into a film that has more to offer than its leading man. Russo is excellent as well -- Nina's plunge into Lou's world is the closest thing we get to an arc, and it's a downward spiral -- as is Riz Ahmed, in a thankless role that quickly blooms into something far more compelling. There's Los Angeles too, and that cherry red Challenger SRT8 392, and the news station, Lou's apartment, the streets, the mansion, the diner... the locales and hotspots of Nightcrawler are characters unto themselves, and provide a familiar place for our wolf in sheep's clothing to hang his hat, lick his lips, and hunt.

Nightcrawler Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Nightcrawler features a strong 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation that's true to Gilroy and cinematographer Robert Elswit's grainy, raw-edged intentions. Though much of the film was shot between midnight and 6am, the image remains striking and evocative, with rich, unflinching colors punctuating the darkness, piercing primaries, and satisfying black levels. Blood spatter, Los Angeles neon, and Lou's Challenger are vivid and visceral, with the only contrast inconsistencies, reductions in clarity, and compression artifacts present being those that appear in Lou's low-fi footage of car accidents and crime scenes. Detail is terrific throughout, with crisp edge definition and revealing fine textures, and delineation is excellent. It doesn't hurt that macroblocking, banding, aliasing, ringing and other issues are nowhere to be found, leaving nothing to distract from the film's photography and atmosphere.

Nightcrawler Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Universal's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track delivers an immersive, carefully crafted experience that favors convincing sonics over spectacle in all the right ways. Dialogue is intelligible, realistically grounded in the mix, and perfectly prioritized, with Gyllenhaal eerily shifting from wiry motivational jargon (spouting lines like "you have to make the money to buy a ticket" with the utmost sincerity) to sociopathic sermonizing that comes to dominate the center channel and draw the listener deeper and deeper into Lou's mania. LFE output is abrupt and explosive, throwing sudden weight behind crashes, roaring engines, gun shots, and the film's spectacular third-act car chase. Rear speaker activity is aggressive and exacting too, with pinpoint directionality, head-whip cross-channel pans, and an absorbing soundfield that illuminates the dark Los Angeles streets as readily as Elswit's photography. There's a raw pulse and momentum to Nightcrawler; an anxious crescendo captured by Universal's faithful, fully engrossing AV presentation.

Nightcrawler Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary: Writer/director Dan Gilroy, producer Tony Gilroy and editor John Gilroy skip the family reunion and dive right into the film, delivering a light, rapidfire overview of the production that's as extensive as it is engaging. From the genesis of the project to the development of the script, the casting process and the characters, themes, performances, cinematography, music, editing and, really, anything and everything you could hope to learn about. Dan Gilroy anchors the track, with brothers Tony and John chiming in as needed, but the trio have such an organic, candid conversation that their passion, enthusiasm and talent comes through without a hint of arrogance.
• If It Bleeds, It Leads (HD, 5 minutes): This all too brief behind-the-scenes featurette offers interview snippets from Dan Gilroy, Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Riz hmed, and two real life Stringers/Nightcrawlers, consultants Austin and Howard Raishbrook, discuss the film and the profession.

Nightcrawler Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Nightcrawler is as frightening as it is fascinating, with Gyllenhaal's performance bordering on revelatory. It's rare that such a narrowly focused character piece feels so sprawling, so intense, so uncomfortably hypnotic, but Gilroy's thriller is anything but ordinary. Universal's Blu-ray release is one of the must-haves this Oscar season too, with a terrific video presentation, an involving DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, and an engaging audio commentary from the filmmakers.