His motivations and his psyche that we get into because he's who we're with for the majority of this movie is what makes this movie so impacting. How Lou progresses keeps the watcher immersed in the film. Not only that, but the characters that are placed around him. His partner and the female anchor that he is acquaintanced with early on. The other nightcrawlers that get there before him.
For those that are reading this and haven't actually seen the movie, I suggest that you stop here and stop reading the review. This is your spoiler warning, though I still suggest going to see the movie! I'll put the particularly important parts of the movie in spoilers still, though.
At the beginning of the movie, we start with him caught stealing by a bodyguard. He's broke and desperate, and the movie already makes him out to be as a sort of antihero.
Spoiler
As the film progresses, though, we soon begin to see that he shifts into the role of being an antagonist to those around him with the measures that he takes to get quality film to sell to the news. Lou even knowingly got his own partner killed. And after all of that, there's this strange voice in the back of my head that wants to root for him. This dark voice that's been tricked into thinking that he's just an antihero from the beginning of the movie.
This definitely is appropriately a thriller, since not only the climax, but the whole film is exciting to watch. The corruption of these news outlets behinds the scenes is something that I find fascinating and weirdly still relevant three years after Nightcrawler came out.
Spoiler
The others in the movie, or the minor antagonist to Lou, that always make it there before him until he's injured, interested me as well. It introduces the culture or lives that these people live, and it shows that there's still a level of pretentiousness even if the job isn't all that admirable on the outside.
I found the portrayal of the news to speak some truth, because there's no doubt that a portion of it contains a bias or does something purely for the views, because that's the job of the news. To keep people scared. To keep people watching the news that they believe they can rely on. It's a theme that runs throughout the movie amongst the others that got me thinking in-depth days after it ended.
The acting is pretty great--especially Jake Gyllenhaal, who fit the role wonderfully. If you've seen this movie, what did you think of this movie? I certainly thoroughly enjoyed it, but you may not have. Did you like it? Did you hate it, and why?
