Nightcrawler (**)

With sunken eyes and a hollowed face, Louis Bloom cruises the streets of Los Angeles, searching for the next breaking story. Like the seedy underbelly of the city itself, Bloom lurks with no remorse, no guilt, no regrets... He stalks police radios and waits for any sort of crime scene that will offer up gore and carnage. Upon arrival, he films the action, makes a quick getaway, and sells the footage to local news stations to make a fast buck.

And that's the premise of Jake Gyllenhaal's latest film, one that he pours his soul into and offers one of his best performances to date. Too bad he's one of the few diamonds in a very expansive rough.

Directed by first-time filmmaker Dan Gilroy, we are presented a simple thriller along the lines of Drive or Taxi Driver. Yes, there is crime involved, but the story levitates around this character, Bloom, and his drifting from job to job. At first it seems like stealing scrap metal and selling it is his only source of income, that is until he stumbles upon a group of 'nightcrawlers' at the scene of a traffic accident. They film a car crash with near reckless disregard for the human tragedy. All they seek is a good shot. The very next day, Bloom is armed with a cheap camcorder and a police interceptor.

Bloom rises quickly in the world of media, buys a new car, hires an assistant. There is a commentary made on the level of graphic content presented by today's media, which is topical. There is also tinkering with society's disregard for violence, which is also topical... In the end, what is the message? Nightcrawler borders on satire nearing the level of 'Network,' another film that more accurately pinned the tail on America's fascination with the obscene.

Nightcrawler has the right idea but fails in concept. The film is weighed down by some directorial errs and a soundtrack that is a hodgepodge of sappy and spooky (from the usually great composer James Newton Howard, no less). Not only is the film a mess tonally, we are treated to some filmmaking ABC's, including a very peculiar and unreasonably-dumb montage sequence as Bloom and his assistant journey from job to job.

Gyllenhaal is still brilliant, and I liken his performance to an Olympic swimmer forced to do laps in a mud puddle. The acting simply overpowers the film, and still his neurotics made the film a pleasure to watch, no matter how unsettling his performance was. Rene Russo is equally as good as the news director who only cares that the footage stay graphic and continues to roll in. Throughout the movie, these two seem to strike up some sort of romantic relationship, though it is never explored (and is truly only mentioned in passing in one or two lines of dialogue... Odd).

The film follows standard plot points and comes to an ending you could pretty much assume 30 minutes after the movie began. For what it's worth, it's a decent movie to check out should you have time and energy to go. While I can't say it was enjoyable or gripping in a way a movie of this caliber should have been, it was nevertheless executed decently and tried its best.

(Awards potential: Best Actor (Gyllenhaal), Best Supporting Actress (Russo))