Bad Times

Went to see the movie last night without knowing what it was about. To say that I enjoyed the movie from start to finish would be an understatement! I thought Christian Bale was absolutely fantastic, his depiction of an ex soldier trying to get back to "normal" ie get a job, have a relationship, while slowly (or maybe not so slowly!)slipping into mayhem & madness was Oscar winning material. He was at war with himself on a downward spiral and bringing any semblance of normality with him. I know I certainly felt I was grabbed by the throat and brought along for the ride. It's not often a movie is so scary and so sad at the same time. I loved it!

First off, let me start by saying that I have never been bothered to write a review on IMDb. Although a fan of the site, I skim read reviews, often not having the patience to read the long essays that over-excited people write. However, I feel it is my obligation to express my opinion on this movie because it is one of a short list of movies that has made an impact on me emotionally.

I honestly believe that Christian Bale's performance in this movie was truly outstanding. If Denzel Washington can be rewarded for best actor in Training Day then Bale deserves his just rewards for Harsh Times. His portrayal of Jim David, an ex-army ranger, is coated in layers of emotional complexity and psychological deterioration. His ability to transform from an honourable, courteous officer to a full blown psycho and then back to loving boyfriend and 'amigo' is truly terrifying.

Sharing much screen time with Bale is a relatively unknown Freddy Rodriquez. He seems to feed off Bale's character and forces the audience to feel sympathy for him as a childhood friend who can't abandon his crazy best friend. A cross between Benny Blanco (Carlito's Way) and Ethan Hawke's character in Training Day, Rodriquez shows his ability in mixing comedic moments up with emotional intensity and apathy. His friendship with Bale is so unpredictable that as an audience, you find yourself laughing with them at one moment and the next on the verge of tears.

David Ayer has created a dark, moody portrayal of South Central Los Angeles, very similar to that of Training Day. It's a bleak, bustling environment where the main characters encounter drug dealers, gang leaders, prostitutes etc. What I found interesting was the way Ayer introduced the beautiful barren Mexican landscape amongst the roughness of LA life. This was to show the personal crossroads Bale's character experiences. The choice whether to stay in Mexico and marry his girlfriend, or to satisfy his sadistic urge to kill and work for the drugs squad in Columbia.

It's frustrating that Harsh Times will not get the box office recognition it deserves. However, through word of mouth and DVD release, I am certain that this will become a sleeper classic, in the style of Shawshank Redemption. I feel that Christian Bale's performance is as mesmerising as De Niro's Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver or Edward Norton's character in American History X. His raw approach to the role makes for a startling but very rewarding experience.

Overall Verdict: A tour de force of a movie with fantastic performances, stylish direction and an after-taste which will stay with you for a very long time. Not since American History X has a movie affected me on such an emotional level. Christian Bale deserves more credit. Much more.....

9.5/10

Harsh Times is an intense film. Keeping you on the edge of finding out how crazy events can become seems to be a staple in the writing of David Ayer. He penned the script for the gritty cop drama Training Day and saw its star, Denzel Washington, win an Oscar for his portrayal of the conflicted beast at its core. With his new film, and directorial debut, Ayer has crafted another street drama about people who themselves don't know whether they are the good guys, the bad guys, or both. Don't be surprised if his work soon creates a second starring Academy Award, as Christian Bale is a powerhouse. The raw acting talents of this Brit are unfathomable and thankfully his rejuvenation of Batman has finally allowed those chops to be shown on screen in challenging roles for the masses.

Crossing between being the soldier/sir, yes sir type of man with the gangbanger of his past could be a difficult thing to believe for a viewer. Bale deftly changes personas as if he was flipping a switch. His ability to go from crazed lunatic to apologetic, tear-filled and beaten man is amazing to watch. Having a great up-and-coming actor to play off of is a plus as Freddy Rodriguez shines in much the same way Ethan Hawke did in Training Day—playing the straight man whose life is finally on the up and up before his love for a friend drags him back down. The rapport between them is believable and effective in showing us what could be. One of their friends, played nicely by Chaka Forman, gets it right when he says how Bale's Jim used to be so mellow. His fits of rage and confusion come upon him with no warning, showing us what war did to him. Being in the trenches created a man without a moral code, one who needs to not think, but just do. If one's capacity to kill was always there, he/she could probably live their lives being able to turn it off when needed. However, if you were not wired that way to begin with, the stark contrast could fry their mind into not knowing what it should do. Harsh Times shows us that fall into delusion and self-loathing to the point where thinking doesn't factor in at all, action becomes reflex and reflex becomes life. Unfortunately society is not of the shoot first variety like that of a warzone.

Ayer has done himself well with this directorial effort. He gets great performances throughout and in multiple languages. Even Eva Longoria was adequate and not a blemish on the film as I initially felt she might be. Ayer shows us all facets of his characters helping to enhance the story. We are privy to the past history of all involved and are allowed to understand each person's motives. Seeing the paradise that Bale has in Mexico adds immensely to the conflict going on inside of him as well. The performance by Tammy Trull is paramount to this fact and her undivided love for her broken man is beautifully expressed. This relationship makes his actions that much more powerfully unfathomable. We have monsters among us in this world and while they can be utilized as a necessity for the survival of our culture, hopefully when their jobs are done they can be helped to assimilate back into society without their ambivalence being able to hurt the ones they love.

Jim Davies (Christian Bale) is back on the streets of LA after six years in the army. He finished up as a Ranger before being honourably discharged. Suffering with extreme PTSD, he hits town with his buddy Mike (Freddy Rodriguez). Jim is trying to start a career in law enforcement, but his psychological injuries are proving an obstacle. He feels that he has no hope if he does not get a career in law enforcement, and he is worried about how he is going to get his wife-to-be over the border and living legally out of Mexico. Mike, meanwhile, is unemployed and his wife (Eva Longoria) is on the warpath. The film follows the pair as they drive around the city, drinking, smoking weed and engaging in medium-level criminality, ostensibly handing out resumes for Mike to get a job. All while Jim's psychological state worsens.

Christian Bale's frightening performance as Jim Davies is the towering point for this film, the directorial debut of the man who wrote the screenplay for the superb "Training Day". While Bale's performance is manic, it tends to veer close to being over-the-top at times, while Freddy Rodriguez's does more so. It is not helped by some dodgy script writing, which is surprising seeing as how it's coming from the man behind "Training Day". The dialogue could have been better. It sways too much into hip-hop parlance with "dawg" thrown out a bit much and some of it is cringe-worthy. I'm not saying people don't talk like the way the men do in this film, but it just came across as a bit pantomime, and together with the scenes where the two leads lose the run of themselves a little it was detrimental to the overall impact. Overall this is a real heavy-hitter. The film pulls us in to all this anger and misery and bludgeons us with the baseball bat until it is covered in blood and snaps in two. In that sense it does a commendable job, but it did not seem to realise it's potential. All it's missing is a bit more plot focus and some fine tuning in the script and character writing.

Ayers explores the friendship of Jim (Christian Bale), a former soldier, and Mike (Freddy Rodriguez), who's married to a beautiful lawyer (Sylvia) and is unemployed. While Jim eagerly awaits to be employed as a federal agent, he spends his free time with Mike as they hit the road and get stoned. Meanwhile, Mike, although the more rational one, fools his wife by tricking her into thinking that he's handing out resumes while he postpones his search for employment by giving in to peer pressure.

The setting is similar to that of Fuqua's 'Training Day'. David Ayers wrote the screenplay for both movies. His exploration of themes such as friendship, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, racism and unemployment are brilliantly finely woven into this character driven piece. There were a few occasions when the racism angle felt a little overdone. An example is the sequence where Jim is offered a post in Colombia and he attempts to explain his situation with his Mexican girlfriend. The reaction he meets felt a little over-the-top.

The execution is simplistic and good. The setting looked very real. The beautiful Mexican landscape contrasts well with the harsh LA streets and it mirrors Jim's internal conflict.

Bale's subtle depiction of his torment (that is eventually explosive) and his on screen reaction to his co-stars are brilliant. There are a couple of scenes where he tends to overact but otherwise he is very good as this tormented soul with a phony exterior. His accent was laughable but it felt authentic as it suited the character. Rodriguez is terrific all the way. He provides some excellent comic relief and his performance appears spontaneous and natural. His scenes with Bale and Longoria are the highlights of 'Harsh Times'. Eva Longoria and Tammy Trull are effective in supporting roles.

'Training Day' has a more Hollywood ending than 'Harsh Times'. Perhaps this ending does not hold an appeal as universal which is why it did not receive as much recognition. While it is too dramatic, it came as a surprise. Nonetheless, David Ayers's 'Harsh Times' is an interesting character study even though slightly flawed in parts.