Warning: Spoilers ahead.

Robert Pattinson’s thrilling performance brings the infamous world of “To Catch a Predator” to the big screen in Lance Oppenheim’s latest film, “Primetime.”

Released Friday, the film is based on Dateline NBC’s hit show from the 2000s. Oppenheim, best known for “Spermworld” and “Some Kind of Heaven,” blends his documentarian past into his first narrative feature, using “To Catch a Predator” to examine how the pursuit of justice can become a pursuit of spectacle and fame.

Tackling questions about performative justice, entrapment and moral superiority, “Primetime” shines with performances from Robert Pattinson, Merritt Wever and Skyler Gisondo as host Chris Hansen, his cynical producer Andie Bender and their child decoy Dan Plumb, respectively. On “To Catch a Predator,” Hansen set up hidden cameras and contracted actors to play teens online to lure predators and expose them on television. Oppenheim uses the show for a character study of both Hansen and his crew, highlighting the corrupt motivations of fame, power and television success.

The film opens on Hansen and Bender during one of their sting operations. The cinematography resembles broadcast cameras of the era with a similar color saturation, grain and recording signal at the top of the screen. The first suspect gets drawn into the sting house by Del, one of the show’s actresses impersonating a minor. Del is played by singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers in her acting debut.

Both the audience and the suspect are being lured into the world of “To Catch a Predator,” and showing the work behind the scenes reveals the steps it takes to get these predators to the house in the first place.

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With Hansen’s collaborators posing as kids in online chatrooms, the film immediately makes the audience question if the show’s methods can be justified even if they are targeted towards predators. But Oppenheim’s critique soon extends beyond the morality of entrapment to the motives that drive Hansen and his crew to serve justice to these men in the first place. It seems that suddenly, the focus of Hansen’s crew isn’t just to catch any predator but to catch the ones who have the most shock value for the sake of television and viewers.

While it’s clear from the beginning that Hansen enjoys catching these men, as the film progresses his motives shift from justice to ratings. Once the show is officially moved to prime time, Hansen shifts his focus to beating ABC’s competing show “Lost” and reaching the No. 1 spot. From minute facial expressions to sudden shifts in attitude, Pattinson’s wide range gives this performance lots of depth and nuance and the chance to be nominated for an Academy Award.

Oppenheim also draws on his documentarian past, employing real figures such as former NBC CEO Jeff Zucker who played himself moving Hansen’s program up to the 9 p.m. prime time slot on Dateline. Old news clips and a quick easter egg featuring Jared Fogle, the “Subway Guy,” capture the nostalgia of the early 2000s. Fogle was later convicted of federal sex crimes involving minors.

Hansen’s urge to have the highest ratings on television lead him to hire Plumb, who pretends to be a 13-year-old child during the sting operations. Initially enthralled to star on television, Plumb slowly sees the greed and unchecked ambition that ultimately drive Hansen and his crew to catch predators. Used as the bait for countless setups, Plumb not only sees the troublesome nature of his work but also the underlying fact that Hansen’s motives are to protect his image, as Hansen himself is battling a cheating scandal throughout the film.

While Hansen says Plumb is “cleansing the earth of an ancient evil,” Plumb’s perspective shifts to question the morality of his actions. Gisondo’s evolving performance highlights his journey from naive and enthusiastic to regretful and isolated from his friends. Plumb’s growing disillusionment with Hansen and his show signals to the audience they too should be disillusioned with Hansen’s motives.

Hansen’s pursuit of “The Whale” – a Texas district attorney caught chatting with Hansen’s decoys – becomes the clearest example of the That pursuit distracts Hansen and the network from an imminent National Enquirer story about Hansen’s infidelity that threatens to destroy his credibility. Oppenheim uses this to seamlessly shift the narrative from catching predators to the catchers’ corrupted motives.

In the film’s final third, it’s evident that Pattinson’s character is in shambles due to the paranoia from the tabloids, his crumbling marriage and pressure from the network. Meanwhile, his selfish desire to catch “The Whale” himself causes him and his crew to question their work. With armed police outside the predator’s house and Hansen still selfishly adamant about interviewing him, Bender begins to shop around other network shows, Plumb questions his past actions and Del ultimately leaves the scene of the sting. Pattinson’s gripping performance shows Hansen’s unraveling and that despite his moral superiority, he is no better than anyone else.

As Hansen’s good-guy persona fades, Plumb commands the final third to change the course of the show, taking a stab at being Chris Hansen during a sting gone awry. Although it remains unclear whether his previous actions were to save his own acting career or the show’s integrity, Plumb eventually refuses to help in the final sting of “The Whale,” which ends in the suspect’s suicide and cements the grim conclusions of Hansen’s pursuit for ratings and television fame – and ultimately “To Catch a Predator” itself.

Through a chaotic, dark and thrilling journey, Oppenheim uses sharp and strategic humor to lighten the mood, making every sting and conversation both uncomfortable and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time. This duality successfully critiques the over-the-top spectacle that was “To Catch a Predator” and provides the audience with that same entertaining action.

Oppenheim’s use of different video formats – including hidden cameras, old network cameras and what seemed to be hand held cam-corders – captures the gritty, color-saturated texture of television in the early 2000s. Beyond strong performances from Pattinson, Wever and Grisondo, that cinematography make this gripping tale of ambition worth watching.

In “Primetime,” the question is no longer “You see how this looks, right?” but whether anyone behind the camera can see what they have become.