Nightcrawler: Netflix's 95% RT Joker Meets Collateral Thriller Is A Perfect One-Night Watch

Published Aug 23, 2026, 4:56 PM EDT Greg is a Lead TV Writer & Critic at Screen Rant with expertise in new streaming releases. He's published over 2800 articles at SR, including weekly recommendation guides and dozens of reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. He previously worked in Development at ABC Television & Lawrence Bender Productions. Greg majored in Film Production at Chapman University's Dodge College. Greg also has years of broadcast TV production experience at major networks such as NBC, TNT, and ESPN. He currently lives in Greater Boston. Netflix recently added a highly-rated crime thriller that is the perfect blend of Joker and Collateral and is great for a late-night watch this week. With its mostly night exterior shots and tour-de-force lead antihero performance by Jake Gyllenhaal, this 2014 psychological drama combines elements of dark comedy and crime thriller to create a mesmerizing and intense viewing experience. Written and directed by Dan Gilroy, who was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay, this film also features performances by Hollywood icons Rene Russo, Bill Paxton, and Riz Ahmed. Nightcrawler was added to Netflix earlier this month and is a great movie for a quick and immersive one-night watch. Featuring Jake Gyllenhaal in one of his best roles, a near-perfect 95% Rotten Tomatoes score based on a whopping 279 reviews, and a "Joker meets Collateral" tone set mostly in the dark streets of Los Angeles, it's truly a modern classic and a must-see movie, especially now that it's streaming on Netflix as of August 6, 2026. With a runtime of 1 hour and 57 minutes, Nightcrawler is well worth the watch tonight. Joker & Collateral Collide In Nightcrawler On Netflix Both Joker and Collateral are celebrated for their dark tone, unhinged characters, and tense crime elements, which makes Nightcrawler fit perfectly into the same category as those two celebrated movies. In the film, viewers are introduced to Gyllenhaal's shady "fake it until you make it" protagonist, Louis Bloom, a loner who initially makes ends meet by stealing and selling scrap metal. After he discovers that he can make a living off of being a parasitic videographer who films crimes, car crashes, and other notable, often tragic, events that would interest local news stations, he embarks on his own enterprise to become the most in-demand news videographer in Los Angeles. While Louis is quite odd and untrustworthy, he is undeniably ambitious, intelligent, and even charming in a calculated, sociopathic way. He hires Rick, a struggling twenty-something, as his intern and eventual second cameraman who helps out with tracking police scanners and providing directions to local crimes. The two form an unlikely partnership as Louis' career takes off, so much so that he is able to use his valuable camera footage of various crimes and tragedies to influence and manipulate Nina (Russo), a veteran local TV news producer. Nightcrawler exists in the same realm as Joker, Collateral, and even Taxi Driver in that audiences essentially follow a ruthless villainous character who operates by his own moral code, which clashes with societal expectations and legal limitations. That said, Louis is very careful to maintain a professional image, keeping his crimes much more hidden beneath the surface. The ultimate message of the film paints a portrait of the type of person who can succeed in such a sensationalized industry, pointing to other classic entertainment-focused projects that expose the darker side of media, such as the 1976 movie Network. Why Nightcrawler Is Still Worth Watching 12 Years Later Image by moviestillsdb Nightcrawler is worth watching 12 years after it was released because it is, at its core, a timeless story about greed, corruption, and sensationalized violence that has become an inescapable part of American culture. It also draws on themes of emotionless ambition in order to achieve great success in a capitalistic society, which are also found in movies like American Psycho, The Wolf of Wall Street, and The Talented Mr. Ripley. These movies all share an antihero protagonist who lies, cheats, deceives, and is a masterful con artist for massive personal and financial gain. Movies like Nightcrawler stand the test of time because even though these characters are detestable and selfish, they are fascinating to watch. It points not only to the highly competitive, often corrupt systems and institutions of wealth in place, whether that be on Wall Street, on the Amalfi Coast, or in Los Angeles, but also to the type of people these systems breed and demand. Louis is not a good person in Nightcrawler, but it's still very easy to follow his logic through the lens of him wanting to run a successful TV news production company. This makes Nightcrawler a deeply American story and is one of the key reasons why it's still worth watching on Netflix nowadays. Nightcrawler 9/10 Release Date October 23, 2014 Runtime 118 minutes