Harsh Times
By Greg O’Neil, Blockbuster.co.uk

“Point and shoot. Pop, pop - move on! You do not stop and think!”

Christian Bale, a man well known for his diverse roles and hard nosed approached to acting hits us square in the jaw with his new film “Harsh Times” This time playing an ex-soldier the movie aims to give us a closer look at contemporary America. Emphasising the movie’s title it shows us the struggle that one man has not just with his environment but also with himself.

The story follows Jim David (Bale), who has a Mexican girlfriend across the border from his hometown of Los Angeles. When he realises that he is completely broke, he returns to the city to link up with his old friend Mike (Freddy Rodriguez) in order to have one last party before he finds a job. Jim is charming and persuasive, but he also suffers from a barely-hidden anger management problem.

Still suffering from post traumatic stress Jim seems to only be pulling his friend down a road that he does not want to travel, but the two friends are so close its interesting to see them play off against one another. The film has a very gritty and real directorial style which has a great effect on the validity of the story. The sets and locations really place the audience in the streets of L.A. and this make it a lot more easy to relate to the struggle these characters are engaged in.

From the writer of Training Day I pretty got what I expected from this film, a true to life representation of people who get trapped into becoming products of the surroundings. Christian Bale completely transforms into this character but with his talent we wouldn’t really expect less. Freddy Rodriguez also deserves a mention in a convincing role as a man trying to restart his life with his girlfriend played by Eva Longoria. Well worth a watch if you’ve enjoyed films of a similar auto-biographical fashion.