Part scathing media satire, part scorching crime thriller, this gripping movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a beady-eyed misfit in LA
Part scathing media satire, part scorching crime thriller, this gripping movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a beady-eyed misfit in LA.
Ruthlessly carving a career for himself as a freelance TV cameraman, he prowls the freeways at night, looking for scenes of urban mayhem to shoot for sensation-hungry TV stations - and is untroubled by the unethical steps he takes to secure grisly scoops.
With his unblinking gaze and creepy body language, Gyllenhaal is sensational as the psychopathic anti-hero, and he gets excellent support from Rene Russo as the cynical TV news editor who buys his footage and from Riz Ahmed as the naïve, homeless man he hires as his assistant.
Along the way, screenwriter-turned-director Dan Gilroy cranks up the tension with high-speed car chases and shootouts and gives the electrified LA nightscape a hellish beauty.
This film is not showing on BBC2 Wales.
