(SPOILER WARNING!!! This article does contain spoilers, if you haven’t seen the movie, just see the first paragraph to be informed without spoilers!!!)

Nightcrawler is a movie that was interesting, cleverly written, and well put together, it really makes you question yourself when it comes to business do you follow your values and ethics of society, or you don’t. 4.5 out of 5 Stars.

Jake Gyllenhaal has definitely had some film success, and why not, his whole family is involved in making films. As of late, I have been enjoying the movies he has starred in and he is starting to become a respected actor. I loved him in End of Watch and Prisoners because they bring a different side of him that you don’t see, but here in Nightcrawler you definitely see something new in his acting repetoire which I found interesting. I will start with what I like, to the so so.

What I like, Dan Gilroy makes his directorial debut and man did he start with a bang. He put together a visual stunner that was perfect. I liked how he started off showing the beauty of Los Angeles at night, and how the whole movie was shot at night but it wasn’t too dark where you don’t know what is happening. Everything is clear and straight to the point which I enjoyed and appreciated. Gilroy also wrote the script for the movie and he scored big with this story. From the trailer I was intrigued, because I knew the story was original. Nightcrawlers do happen and give the best video shots for News Channels to use in reporting up to date news. I was interested to see where this story will go, and it didn’t disappoint, and kept the interest from beginning to end. What I like about most is that the movie shows that if you work hard you can achieve good things, but makes you think how far will you go to achieve it. Would you go against your values and ethics of society to get what you want? Is business really ethical to begin with? I guess it depends on the person who is running their business, which I’m going to explain.

The so so, let me start off explaining that Jake Gyllenhaal acted superbly as Louis Bloom. At the beginning of the movie it shows Louis desperate to make money. So he started hustling whether stealing metal or steel to sell as scraps, or stealing good thing that people owned to pawn for money. You can tell from the get go that he is a socially awkward person, but he is not stupid, actually he is pretty smart and motivated to do whatever it takes. You can see through his hustling that he is a pretty good negotiator which bodes well for him. When he is desperately looking for a job which he hasn’t had any luck in, he decided to start a nightcrawling business after observing how easy it is to make quick money. He teams up with another person, Rick played by Riz Ahmed, whom he met through the Internet who is also desperate to make money and will do whatever it takes. He is pretty tough on Rick, but he claims it is because he is pushing him to do his best. Louis gets his first camera shots of a car jacking that turned into a fatal shooting. He got there late, but managed to get some real close footage of the victim. He goes to sell his footage to a news station, and is introduced to the station’s executive producer, Nina played by Rene Russo. Nina is impressed by how close he got to filming the victim but could only give him little money because of the poor quality camera he uses. However, Nina gives Louis some advice of what they are really looking for and what pays more. He takes this advice seriously and actually becomes pretty successful to a point where he could buy a better camera and a Camero to get to the action faster. Once the movie progresses, this is where Louis’ true character really shows. He likes to mess with the crime scene, like moving bodies, to get a better shot, or going into people’s houses to find anything newsworthy to film. Now that the news station respects his work and expect him everyday, he shows his creepy side in wanting to have a relation with Nina. He wants it so bad, that he pretty much makes an offer she couldn’t refuse, where she does sexual favors for her or he works for another news station. The reason she gives in to his demands is that she is desperate for ratings and might lose her job, and knows that his film work brings in great ratings. He even sabatoges his rival nightcrawler’s career, but messing with his van that lead to a severe accident that Louis caught on film. He did this all because the rival is doing a lot better than him, and he wanted to put a stop to it The turning point of the movie is when Louis gets a call if a house break in, and he gets there before the police where he witnesses and films a triple homocide murder. He manages to film the murderers and the victims before police arrived. He knew it was his biggest shot yet, and demands a lot of money and to be part of the news station crew. Nina accepts because she knows what he caught on film will boost up ratings. Louis who has the murderers and the license plate on film decided to track the guys down himself instead of reporting it to the police. He comes up with a plan to film something even greater than the triple homicide shot, and that is getting a shot of police arresting the murderers which he knew will lead to a shootout. Before all that happens, he offers a raise to Rick and tells him of his plan which Rick finds it really unethical. He demands more money which Louis obliges because he worked hard to earn that money. However, when Rick realizes that Louis will have the cops come to a public place, he refuses to do it, but Louis threatens to harm him if he walks out and Rick agrees. As Louis predicted, it lead to a shootout and a cop chase which Louis and Rick got on film. Now this shows how psychotic Louis really is, and how unlikable his character is. After the thrilling cop chase scene that lead to a severe accident, he lied to Rick telling him the murderer is dead and to film it, but the murderer was alive and shoots Rick to death before he gets killed by police. Louis goes to Rick and tells him he did it, because he doesn’t trust him anymore and leaves him there to die. At first, you started feeling sorry for Louis and even rooting for him, but as the movie progresses, you end up hating Louis for really being a selfish person who only cares about getting what he wants, even if it means other people getting killed. How can you like a person like this, and what’s even more disgusting is that he doesn’t suffer any consequences for what he did, because the police can’t prove anything, even though they have their suspicions, and Louis expands his business in getting more vans and people to continue his nightcrawling business. He’s the real villain you can’t root for, and gets away. It begs the question, when it comes to business, do you go against your values and social ethics to get what you want? Even if it costs death to an innocent person?

Overall, even though you hated the character of Liuis Bloom, you can’t deny the fact how good this movie is. This has been Jake Gyllenhaal’s best acting as if yet, and I do believe that this movie and Gyllenhaal will get some Oscar consideration. I don’t think they will win it, but they should get some nods!!! Final Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars.

(Sidenote: Chef- A movie that really left me hungry. This movie has a great cast starting with Jon Favreau as Chef Carl Casper. A well respected chef who has a meltdown with a well respected food critic. He decided to quit his job as a head chef of a restaurant and start his own food truck business. What I like is that the movie is a feel good success movie that teaches about hard work and putting love in what you do. The movie has a great cast with John Leguizamo as the assistant chef Martin, which they had a lot of chemistry together. The beautiful Sofia Vergara as his ex-wife. It also stars Scarlett Johansson, Dustin Hoffman, Russell Peters, and Robert Downey Jr. in minor roles. The movie is very witty, but it goes through many cliches like a divorced father too busy to spend time with his son, and always leaving him disappointed until this movie where he works with him and expands on their relationship for the better. The movie lacked a lot of substance at the end with no real problem, just a success story. But if you love food, which I do, you will enjoy this movie and makes you want to either cook something or go out and get something!!! Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars.)