Harsh Times (2005)
Sunday, 11 Mar, 2007 03:35:00 PM
Extra Details: IMDB
›› We reviewed the Region 01 DVD
Movie Mad Review:
I settled down last night to watch Harsh Times and was desperate to see a movie similar to Training day which had somehow evaded me until now!
Jim Davis (Christian Bale) is an ex-Army Ranger who finds himself slipping back into his old life of petty crime after a job offer from the LAPD evaporates.
His best friend is pressured by his girlfriend Sylvia (Eva Longoria) to find a job, but Jim is more interested in hanging out and making cash from small heists, while trying to get a law enforcement job so he can marry his Mexican girlfriend.
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.
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.
Eva Longoria was excellent as well as fucking hot as fuck!
There is absolutely now way you would ignore her and listen to Christian Bale when she wants you in the bedroom, sweet Jesus!
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.
This movie was excellent, I expected better, why I dunno, but it was really really good!
Maybe I had just waited to long to see it.
Watch it, buy it, who cares its ace.
Worth Watching ?
Definately, not quite Training Day but fucking brilliant all the same!
DVD Features
Deleted Scenes
Commentary with writer/director Trailer
Trailer Gallery
Worth Owning on DVD ?
Absolutely, this can be watched time and time again!
Our Rating:
4 out of 5.
