Harsh Times
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Movie Reviews of Harsh Times
Movie Review: Harsh times indeed
Summary: 4 Stars
I picked this movie up in the bargain bin after reading the back cover and I had never even herd of it. It sounded interesting enough. What I didn't realize was how powerful of a movie it was going to be. Christian Bale plays a man who grew up in a Latino community and his best friend is played by Freddy Rodriguez. Bale fought terrorists in Afganastan or some place over there and the way they explain his character he sounds like a killing machine. He and Freddy Rodriguez are looking for jobs and Christian Bale already has one set up. But then he gets a letter saying he is uneligible to become part of the LAPD. He freaks out a bit, but then gets recruited by Homeland Security. So now he just has to drive Freddy Rodriguez around so he can find a job. This leads to a lot of drinking and driving and leaving fake messages on Freddy Rodriguez's answering machine so his wife thinks he is actually looking for a job. But, Christian Bale little by little ends up going crazy because of the effects of going to the war, and Freddy Rodriguez doesn't realize it until too late. I really don't want to give anything away, but the thing I liked most about this movie was that all the events played out like you would think they would in real life. The violence, the way friends talk to eachother, the job process... The movie just gets better and better as it goes along, and only lets up a bit towards the end, but it is still a great movie. Christian Bale is amazing as expected, but Freddy Rodriguez really blew me away. I thought he was even better than Christian Bale.
Rating- 4/5
Movie Review: "Harsh Times" speaks to its times.
Summary: 4 Stars
Christian Bale is so on the edge during this whole film, it's almost like watching a great athlete in action. He's not as fluid and mesmerising as Al Pacino in "Dog Day Afternoon", but you still can't take your eyes off Bale in this film. This isn't a perfect work of art by any means, and it's hard to like two characters who roll around LA in a big car getting drunk and high all the time and talking trash. But like it or not, this story has its feet planted in street reality. I believed Bale's character with all his evil baggage and his complete inability to rebuild his life and redeem himself. It was obvious that he had left the best parts of himself behind in Afghanistan and nobody back home was ever going to help him get his mind right. The character arc is no doubt predictable. You know our man is a bomb and he's going to explode. But the way it happens seems totally believable to me. The way Ayer handled the violence in this film reminds me of Michael Cimino's work in "Year of the Dragon" and "The Deer Hunter". It creeps up on you slow and in your face, but still shocks and rattles you. "Harsh Times" is not a family flick. And yeah, it's damned depressing. You won't watch it with your girlfriend or young children. But it deserves a good hard look. These vets will all be coming home one of these days. Some of them will be able to rebuild their lives. But too many will be part of a new generation of addicts, homeless people and the mentally ill. "Harsh Times" speaks to its times. It may be overlooked today, but it could emerge as a minor classic years from now.Movie Review: Raises questions about suitability of our military killers in the civilian world
Summary: 4 Stars
Harsh Times is screenwriter David Ayer's directorial debut. It's an urban crime drama with a heavy human element, similar in theme to the scripts he wrote for Training Day, Dark Blue, and S.W.A.T. While the themes are similar, this is an original plot, with rich characters that the viewer might just have a hard time sympathizing with. The movie is set in South Central Los Angeles and focuses on the job searches of two best friends, the violently unbalanced ex-Army Ranger Jim (played by Christian Bale) and the partying, fast-talking sales-guy-type Mike (played by Freddy Rodriguez). Jim and Mike spend more time cruising, drinking, and smoking pot than they do looking for work. Both have female love interests--Jim's beautiful Mexican girlfriend and Mike's no-nonsense wife Sylvia.
The two men are utterly unlikable as they mooch of society and commit crimes. Jim is especially violent and unpredictable, and seems unsuited for civilian life after leaving the Army. The women in the movie bring out the human side to the pair of friends. Jim is turned down for a job by the LAPD, but gets snagged by the Department of Homeland Security for high-level consulting in Columbia. He wants to pull of one last scam before shipping out, and the movie climaxes in one unforgettable night around the Mexican border. This is a story that raises questions about making ends meet in Los Angeles, about how the military cares for its own after changing their being irrevocably, and what the heck the Department of Homeland Security is up to.
Movie Review: Macho high jinks where the violence never stops
Summary: 4 Stars
People watch different kinds of things for pure escapism. For me, its trash talking macho adolescent high jinks where the plot moves fast, the action never stops and there are guns and violence and drugs. My kind of film!
That's the plot of this 2005 flick I caught on TV the other night. It stars Christian Bale as the war veteran. He starts off all lovey dovey with his Mexican sweetheart. He's American and is going back over the boarder to get a job as a cop. He tells her he will return to Mexico, marry her, bring her to America and live happily ever after. Yeah! Right!
First he meets up with his pal, Freddy Rodriguez, who is trying to get a job and live a straight life. Freddy's wife, Eva Longoria is upscale and professional. She has his resumes all ready for him. All he has to do is drop them off with some prospective employers.
Anyway, the war veteran is turned down by the police and the pal would rather hang out than look for work. They get drunk, score some marijuana, and talk dirty a lot. Soon they have guns, are dealing with drug dealers and killing a few people (who we don't really feel sorry for because they are as low-life as our two heroes). Their lives get weirder and weirder and include the veteran being hired by the CIA and a trip to visit his Mexican sweetheart which turns ugly.
There's more and more violence. The ending is inevitable.
I don't know anyone else who would like this film. But I must admit I did enjoy it.
Movie Review: psych study.
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie has been compared by previous reveiwers as another Taxi Driver. The only simularitys between the movies are that the main characters in each are combat veterans unable to reintegrate into society and the movies are psychological studies of sort, with an underlying plot. Other then those two simularitys, Harsh times is unique and definately holds it's own.
I could relate with Christian Bales character in this film, and the stage of his life that he was going through. The stressful time of applying to various police departments, going through the application process, putting your life literaly on hold while you wait to hear from the recruitment office plus keeping your nose clean as you get drawn toward your old habits, can drive you crazy.
You watch as this stress and Bale's characters traumatic experiance as an Army Ranger coupled with his life's dormant state drive him back into his old criminal habits and ultimately over the edge.
Bale adds another psychotic character to his resume and pulls it off convincingly.
Kinda makes you wonder about him.