Nightcrawler

Neon LA at night vs. a phenomenal Jake Gyllenhaal, who could convince a corpse that he can play almost any kind of character and emotional creation with utter brilliancy. The pacing is slower in both the plot and the formation of the protagonist's persona. Gradually, however, it gains steam and the escalating finale boldly ranks among the most thrilling moments of the year, and the whole thing is utterly unpredictable. (09/11/2015)

L.A. at night, full of the flashing lights of ambulances, a career built on climbing over people, the hyena-like behavior of the tabloid press and a super cool Dodge Challenger. Nightcrawler gets off to a slow start, but finishes strong. The centerpiece of the film is the excellent Jake Gyllenhaal, an actor who keeps getting better with age, just like a fine wine. (07/04/2015)

An intimate thriller whose greatest asset is the perfect performance of the lead actor – we haven't had such an unreadable, dark character going on his own without firearms for a long time, and together with the dark atmosphere of nighttime, crime-ridden L.A., especially in the end, it brings the emotional experience of the story to the level of the best we could see in 2014. In the final analysis, the film feels more like a small intro into the sick soul of an obsessive careerist, and doesn't make much of an effort to link his immoral actions with the commentary on criminal justice (the ending almost feels like an ode to investigative "snooping"), but that doesn't detract from its quality. 80% (09/07/2015)

I was afraid that Nightcrawler would disappoint me just like the movie Southpaw (it came out in the same year), where Jake Gyllenhaal was also starring. In the end, I was completely misled, because I got a very solid thriller. Nevertheless, I have to confess that I couldn’t imagine any possible course of the story and in the end, I was even surprised by the interesting development of the character itself. Jake is portraying such a psycho that even a certified psychiatrist wouldn’t know what to do with him. You can see the madness in his eyes, which scared me throughout the whole movie and I still have to think about it even now. Nightcrawler is definitely one of those movies that draw from an interesting idea and a brilliant acting performance. Well, and you don’t actually need anything else for a quality movie experience. (08/11/2015)

The emotions are about as warm as a winter morning. The characters without a personal story may evoke viewer antipathy, but the economical handling of characters who have sold out to ratings numbers works a treat because these stalkers remain something detached for most of us, coming to us through spicy TV shots, even in ordinary reality. Also, Gyllenhaal's sleazy character works so well that you don't really care which way you're supposed to view the protagonist, which emerges in the end as the main trump card of the creative narrative, and you sort of even accept the pre-credits finish at its mercy. 4 ½. (01/02/2015)