Nightcrawler 4K 2014 Ultra HD 2160p

A freelance journalist named Louis Bloom, who shoots videos about crime in Los Angeles, encounters the dark side of the criminal world.

User Review

Nightcrawler is an independent American film with a modest budget that, to everyone's surprise, became a box office hit and a favorite of audiences and critics alike. The latter, incidentally, actively include Nightcrawler in their top ten films of 2014 (the American Film Institute, one of the most influential organizations in the world of cinema, also included the film among the best). If fortune continues to smile on this project, it may even receive a couple of Oscar nominations... The unexpected success of Dan Gilroy, the screenwriter of The Bourne Ultimatum, who made his directorial debut with this film, has a perfectly rational explanation. The fact is that this is not just another run-of-the-mill film made for profit or to win golden statuettes. The director's enthusiasm is evident in every frame — he clearly spent years developing the idea for this film and gave it his all when the opportunity to realize his vision finally presented itself.

The film has three main components: a fascinating plot, a chic atmosphere, and stunning performances. 1. Plot. Nightcrawler begins with a fairly mundane scene: the main character steals a Rabitsa fence and sells it for scrap metal in an attempt to earn money. He offers his services as a scrap metal worker, but, of course, no one wants to deal with a thief, and the hero is rejected. After that, by a twist of fate, he notices an accident on the bridge and, out of curiosity, stops to see what happened. There he notices a reporter filming everything that is happening. At that moment, Louis Bloom realizes that he has found a job he likes. He throws himself headlong into what at first glance seems like a harmless business—filming nighttime incidents—which in practice turns out to be very dangerous, and therefore even more exciting... The plot of the film has a very logical and understandable structure—every step the hero takes, no matter how immoral and cruel, is clear to the viewer. And this is very pleasing, because the temptation to make a confusing film à la Mulholland Drive was very great in this case. But Dan Gilroy did not do this, coming up with an incredibly inventive denouement that is striking in its scale and cruelty. Personally, I felt that the ending of the whole story lacked a bit of punch – but this is a completely subjective quibble that in no way affects my overall impression of the film.

2. Atmosphere. If it weren't for the excellent image quality, one might think that Nightcrawler was filmed somewhere at the turn of the 80s and 90s. The atmosphere of that wonderful time is clearly evident here. The slightly subdued but very expressive music by James Newton Howard really heats up the atmosphere. The bold cinematography perfectly conveys the constant movement, while not forgetting the close-ups that capture the emotions of the main characters. Director Dan Gilroy deserves praise for not stopping to add sentimentality or humor to the plot, instead giving us two hours of pure tension and adrenaline.

3. Acting. The main star of the film, its strongest component, is Jake Gyllenhaal, who lost 10 kilograms for the role and changed almost beyond recognition. His character, Lou Bloom, is a cross between Christian Bale's machinist and Robert De Niro's taxi driver, with a dash of Daniel Day-Lewis's butcher. His image combines iron calm with an instability bordering on hysteria. Gyllenhaal has virtually no emotional scenes; he conveys his character's sociopathic nature through an unhealthy gleam in his eyes, sharp gestures, and distinctive facial expressions. With this role, Jake proves that he is truly a remarkable dramatic actor who becomes more confident in his acting abilities with each role. Honestly, the Academy should nominate Gyllenhaal for an Oscar this year, because it would be damn unfair to snub him two years in a row (I'm talking about his excellent work last year in Prisoners, which went underrated). Incidentally, he has already begun to collect his first awards and nominations (including a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination). Rene Russo also did a great job with her role, complementing Gyllenhaal's character and bringing a bit of feminine energy to this tense male-dominated film.

CONCLUSION. Nightcrawler is a film that is incredibly interesting to watch. It does not carry any moral lessons, does not raise social issues, and does not champion the rights of the oppressed and insulted, meaning it has no value from the point of view of the average critic. However, oddly enough, critics unanimously sing the praises of Nightcrawler, and they do so solely because it is a really cool movie. It captivates the viewer's attention from the first to the last second, without looking for the right and the wrong, without trying to impose any point of view, but simply telling a very interesting story. In this regard, Nightcrawler can be compared to another excellent film from 2014 — Obsession.

I recommend this film to all fans of tense thrillers, the atmosphere of the 80s and 90s, and anyone who wants to stay up to date. After all, Nightcrawler is a film you're sure to hear about again and again.

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (81.8 Mb/s)
Resolution: 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Info Audio

#English: Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Atmos 7.1
#English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
#English: Dolby Digital 5.1

Info Subtitles

English SDH, Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French (Canadian), French (Metropolitan), German, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Romanian, Spanish (Castilian), Spanish (Latin American), Swedish, Turkish.