This is the best depiction of today’s news-hungry media I have seen in many years- it left me stunned. What an amazing way to articulate the zombieland of the rotting mainstream media, the CNNs, the BBCs, the Foxes.
It took the theme of loneliness from “Taxi Driver” (1976) and the psychedelic genre created by “Drive” (2011) (this film is produced by the same team) and gave us an acidic amalgamation of horror.
This film works mainly for Jake Gyllenhaal and I must admit I didn’t think much of him before, but here he nailed it like Heath Ledger nailed the Joker in “The Dark Knight” (2008). Rene Russo is quite good too as the epitome of the news-boss, and Bill Paxton is the symbol of the mercenary-reporter.
Gyllenhaal is a petty thief desperate to make ends meet and then he stumbles upon a guy who shoots crime-scenes and sells it to the media. As he gets good at it we realise there is no difference between the people who commit the crime and the people who record the crime, apart from the fact that crime-news pays more than crime itself.
Paddy Chayefsky and Sydney Lumet (who made “Network” in 1976) would be proud of this one. The satire is so sharp-edged that it would make “Broadcast News” (1987) look like a cartoon show. While crime rates fall (as Steven Pinker proved in his book “Better Angels of Our Nature”) more thrilling news is demanded- crimes are like gold coins, the bloodier the better.
The film reminded me of Hunter S Thompson’s great observation: “The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason.”
The nightcrawler in the film is not like Travis Bickle of “Taxi Driver,” he is more like Dracula, he is a creature of the night, a blood-thirsty monster. Written and Directed by Dan Gilroy - great job! I will be eagerly waiting for his next film.