Just try looking away: ‘Nightcrawler’ gets under your skin and stays there
- Craig Shapiro
- Mar 21
- 6 min read
4K ULTRA HD REVIEW / HDR SCREENSHOTS
Jake Gyllenhaal gives one of his finest performances as Louis Bloom, who sells graphic, overnight news footage to a struggling Los Angeles TV station. (2) Rene Russo, center, is Nina Romina, the news director at KWLA. She sees a ratings bonanza in Bloom’s videos.
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“NIGHTCRAWLER”
4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray, 2013, R for violence, including graphic images, and language
Best extra: The new commentary with film historian Joe von Appen
JAKE GYLLENHAAL was once asked if Louis Bloom, the character he plays — correction, the character he owns — in “Nightcrawler,” was a sociopath.
He didn’t think so. “Using that word takes the one-ness off of us,” he said. “[You think] ‘Oh, he’s over there. Don’t worry. We don’t have to deal with it.’
“He’s our creation. Without our need for information, without or need for information of all sorts, in a world where unimportant information is now important, and important information is now unimportant … [and] we just need to feed and consume, people like Lou can thrive. He’s kind of a walking metaphor.”
Who, then, is Louis Bloom? When the film opens, he’s breaking into a construction site to steal chain-link fencing and copper wire. Confronted by a security guard, he calmly tells him he’s lost, then assaults him and steals his watch. Later, he comes across a car wreck and watches as Joe Loder (Bill Paxton, “A Simple Plan”), a nightcrawler who hustles to accidents, fires, shootings and plane crashes, films the carnage to sell to whichever L.A. news station pays him the most.
(1&2) Bloom is confronted by a security guard as he steals copper, metal fencing, and manholes. (3&4) Coming across a car accident on the way home, he catches a crew of nightcrawlers filming the rescue of a woman from a burning car. The wheels are soon turning.
The wheels are soon in motion. Bloom steals a racing bike and hocks it for a cheap camcorder and police scanner. After a few false starts, he films a crime scene and sells the grisly footage for $250 to Nina Romina (Rene Russo, “Get Shorty”), the overnight news director at a bottom-rung station being crushed in the ratings. Her advice: Get a better camera.
He does, and as the money rolls in, Bloom crosses the line between observer and participant. Romina has no qualms; with the sweeps approaching, Louis’ enabler needs viewers. Always thinking ahead, Bloom sells Rick (Riz Ahmed, “Sound of Metal”), a desperate homeless man, on the career potential of being his navigator, paying him a nightly pittance to ride shotgun. Before long, they’re tooling around in a firetruck-red muscle car outfitted with state-of-the-art technology.
But Bloom doesn’t really cash in until he beats the police to a home invasion in an upscale neighborhood where three people have been brutally murdered. He pockets $10,000 for the horrific footage and demands that the station credit his company. Romina, of course, agrees. Bloom, however, holds onto footage when he first arrived that shows the gunmen and the license plate of their black SUV. What does he do with it? You know how to find out.
Gyllenhaal has turned in some memorable performances throughout his career, chief among them in “Donnie Darko,” “Brokeback Mountain,” and “Zodiac,” but it’s hard to overstate how good he is here. It’s not just how he delivers his lines — his carefully measure cadence puts you on edge from the outset — it’s his unnerving physical transformation, too. Gyllenhall says he dropped about 30 pounds running 8 to 15 miles to the set each day “training myself as a coyote.” The weight loss also shows up in his gaunt face. Really, you cannot look away.
That’s due in large part to how Los Angeles has been envisioned by first-time director Dan Gilroy, an Oscar nominee for his original screenplay, and cinematographer Robert Elswit (“There Will Be Blood”). Far removed from the City of Angels promoted in travel brochures, the city’s pulsing, dark beauty is fertile ground for Bloom and the other nightcrawlers.
(1&2) Holed up in his apartment, Bloom watches the accident footage on the morning news. (3&4) That afternoon, he steals a sleek racing bike and trades it to a pawn shop owner (Jonny Coyle) for a camcorder and police scanner.
VIDEO
There seems to be some confusion with Shout! Studios’ 4K description of the 4K remastering in the press release and on the cardboard sleeve. The studio says it’s a new scan of the DI (Digital Intermediate) film negative, but DI is in the digital domain not a film negative. Elswit captured the nighttime scenes using 2.8K digital cameras, while the daytime interiors and exteriors were shot on old-school 35mm film stock.
At the time, everything was framed in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio and mastered digitally at 2K, which was the norm during the 2010s. So, in reality, the new 4K master was created from an up-conversion of the original 2K master. Examined less than 2 feet away on a 9-foot screen, the on-screen resolution between the 4K UHD and new Blu-ray is nearly identical. The HDR10 and Dolby Vision grading does produce a more dynamic image, with its exceptional black levels, and expanded color spectrum, especially with Bloom’s hot-red Challenger SRT8.
(1) Writer/director Dan Gilroy and cinematographer Robert Elswit imbue the City of Angels with a pulsing, dark beauty. (2&3) Bloom runs into a few false starts his first night out. (4-6) As he finds his footing, he sells Rick (Riz Ahmed), a desperate homeless man, on the career potential of being his navigator.
AUDIO
The new Dolby Atmos track provides ample room for the myriad ambient effects, particularly the sirens moving across the soundstage, that bring the city to life. Gunfire is jarring, but the sequence where the police close in on the suspected murderers ups the ante. The tension and adrenaline rush are palpable. Composer James Newton Howard (“The Fugitive,” “Hunger Games”) shares credit here: His shape-shifting score is perfectly attuned to the narrative.
Shout! has also included the original six-channel DTS-HD soundtrack and a 2.0 Stereo track for folks without a surround system.
EXTRAS
New commentary by film historian Joe von Appen – and it’s OK. Clearly a fan of the movie, he likens Louis Bloom to Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle in “Taxi Driver.” Not only do both struggle connecting to the world around them, he says, they never sleep.
Archival commentary – with Dan Gilroy and his brothers Tony, the producer, and John, the editor. It’s a lively conversation, providing a number of stories about the genesis of the project and how quickly it was green-lit for an independent film.
“Making the News: Scoring ‘Nightcrawler,’” (14 mins.) – a new interview with composer James Newton Howard. He credits British musician Peter Gabriel with creating the new wave of percussive, atmospheric/textural sounds, which he introduced in Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1988).
“If It Bleeds It Leads - Making ‘Nightcrawler,’” (5 min.) is a short featurette from 2014, with an interview with Gilroy. He says the inspiration for “Nightcrawler” was 1930s crime photographer Weegee (Arthur Fellig), who put a police scanner in his car and captured the gritty underbelly of New York City.
— Craig Shapiro and Bill Kelley III, High-Def Watch producer
(1-3) Bloom gasses up his hot-red Challenger SRT8 and heads to an accident scene, where he moves the victim around to get a better shot. (4) Joe Loder (Bill Paxton), who runs Mayhem Video, tries to convince Bloom to join his outfit. (5) Feeling the heat from the upcoming ratings sweeps, Romina puts her foot down about Bloom’s grisly footage. (6) Bloom is overcome by a rare flash of … frustration? (7&8) He hits the big time when he beats the police to the scene of a multiple murder and sells the footage for $10,000.
SPECS:
100 GB
4K upconversion from the original 2K master
Captured on 2.8K ARRI-Alexa XT digital cameras for the night sequences and 3-perf Super 35mm film stock for the limited daylight exteriors and interiors, framed in the theatrical 2.35:1 aspect.
Video bitrate: Averages around 80 Megabits per second, with a running time of 117 minutes.
HDR10 maximum light level: 214 nits
Max frame average light level: 84 nits
Box office: Domestically $32 million, and worldwide $47 million, with a production budget of $8.5 million.
Rotten Tomatoes: Top Critics’ 88 percent, Audiences 86 percent.
Metacritic: Critics 76 percent, User Score 8.3
Awards: Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay
BAFTA Awards: Best Lead Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay
Critics Choice Awards: Nomination for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay
Golden Globes: Nominee for Best Actor in a Motion Picture
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