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Harsh Times (2006)
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Reviews Counted:96
Fresh:46
Rotten:50
Average Rating:5.5/10
Consensus: Despite a dedicated performance by Christian Bale, Harsh Times suffers from a heavy-handed and overly bleak plot.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong violence, language and drug use.
Runtime: 1 hr 59 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:Nov 10, 2006 Wide
Box Office: $3,304,691
Synopsis: Haunted by nightmares from his murderous military past, the honorably discharged Jim (Christian Bale) spends his time between his impoverished fiancee in rural Mexico and cruising the streets of... Haunted by nightmares from his murderous military past, the honorably discharged Jim (Christian Bale) spends his time between his impoverished fiancee in rural Mexico and cruising the streets of east L.A., knocking back beers and smoking joints with his buddy Mike (Freddy Rodriguez). They also pawn a gun, run into some trouble with a jealous gangster, and fool Mike's girlfriend (Eva Longoria) into thinking he's actually dropping off resumes instead of getting drunk and high with his buddy. Homeland Security meanwhile wants to recruit Jim for some special ops in Central America, but first he has to pass a urine test. This is the directorial debut of David Ayer, who wrote TRAINING DAY, which this film resembles with its smog-saturated cinematography and loving attention to the minutiae of male bonding and "homey codes" in and around L.A.'s inner-city drug culture. One never knows where the story is going, or what's around the next corner in this off-center yarn, and Ayer captures that uneasy feeling of cruising through a bad part of town in a car with someone who you slowly realize cannot be trusted. Christian Bale delivers, as usual, a towering performance: growing progressively more disturbed as the film goes on, he weeps, roars, struts, shouts and flips out, maintaining audience sympathy all the while. [More]
Starring: Christian Bale, Freddy Rodriguez, Tammy Trull, Adriana Millan
Starring: Christian Bale, Freddy Rodriguez, Tammy Trull, Adriana Millan, Eva Longoria, Terry Crews, Noel Guglielmi, Emilio Rivera, Abel Soto, Sonia Iris Lozada, Craig Ricci Shaynak, Tania Verafield
Director: David Ayer
Director: David Ayer
Producer: Andrea Sperling
Composer: Graeme Revell
Studio: MGM
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Reviews for Harsh Times
A crazy little film, modest in its scope but grand in its ambition. It paints it's story in loud primary colors, with intense pressure cooker characterizations.
HARSH TIMES is a portrait of a male-dominated world and inChristian Bale's fierce performance, Ayer has found the perfect actor. It's just unfortunate that the screenplay feels like a left-over from an era that has passed.
just like its protagonist, Harsh Times is fatally flawed, but in a manner that still remains compelling to watch.
A movie that seems gritty and pointless for its first third, begins to grow in meaning as the pointlessness snowballs into absurdity and then tragedy.
It's an amazing performance, one of the best of the year, with Bale truly making you believe in this over-the-top character.
Por alguns instantes, o filme parece ter algo relevante a dizer sobre a desumanização provocada pela guerra ou o niilismo de uma geração entediada e descrente, mas constatamos que quer apenas chocar, desperdiçando as ótimas atuações de Bale e Rodriguez.
A gritty, automobile-intensive, buddy flick rather reminiscent of director David Ayer's similarly amoral Training Day.
Harsh Times is dark and brutal, not the kind of film that lures a large audience or garners awards, although it deserves both.
The mix of black humor and pitiless drama makes for a very effective cinematic slow burn
Harsh Times wins in the end by keeping its fingers wrapped tightly around its viewers’ throats.
Jim Davis (Christian Bale) may be the most aggressively self-destructive character since Johnny Boy Civello in 'Mean Streets.'
None of these characters are the least bit likeable, and that's the fault of David Ayer, who structures the film as a series of mostly disconnected episodes with a single theme:
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