Harsh Times |  | Director: David Ayer
Actors: Christian Bale, Freddy Rodríguez, Eva Longoria, Chaka Forman, Tammy Trull
Studio: Weinstein Company
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.95
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Rating:  71 reviews
Sales Rank: 15221
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 116 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 79955
UPC: 796019799553
EAN: 0796019799553
ASIN: B000KX0IM2
Theatrical Release Date: November 10, 2006
Release Date: March 13, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
(Action) Bale stars as an ex-Army Ranger who finds himself slipping back into his old life of petty crime and booze after a job offer from the LAPD evaporates. Honorable discharged Homeland Security wants to recruit him for some special ops in Central America but first he has to pass a urine test...which proves difficult. Film directorial debut for Ayer who has written such box office hits as TRAINING DAY U-571 and THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS System Requirements:Run Time: 116 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/CRIME & CRIMINALS UPC: 796019799553 Manufacturer No: 79955
Amazon.com
Bleak as its South Central Los Angeles setting, Harsh Times is like a suicidal vortex swallowing men who ought to know better but can't stop their self-destruction. Christian Bale stars as Jim Davis, a stressed-out, former Army Ranger who becomes a very bad influence on his weak-willed buddy, Mike Alvarez (Freddy Rodriguez of Six Feet Under). Together the two meander through streets at night, getting drunk and stoned, finding trouble for its own sake and inviting danger as a ritual of machismo bonding. Mike's wife, Sylvia (Eva Longoria), a lawyer whom Mike, working as a telemarketer, put through school, is repelled by Jim and watches in pain as her spouse chooses a downward spiral over renewal and redemption with her. When Jim's application to join the L.A. police is turned down, he leads Mike into pure anarchy. An impractical change of fortune doesn't help any, and first-time director David Ayer, who wrote the screenplay for Harsh Times years before his script for Training Day, goes to some lengths, dramatically and visually, to convey Jim's unhinged condition. The dreariness of it all, and a sense that Bale has constructed--but not exactly lived in--another in his gallery of lost, misfit souls, makes it hard to connect with this film. Still, it is hard to turn away from these desperate and dangerous characters. --Tom Keogh
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 71
 A tense study in self-destruction February 8, 2010
Bradley F. Smith (Miami Beach, FL)
These two are heading down the wrong highway and they can't stop themselves. Almost every scene in this low profile sleeper is crammed with tension and the feeling that things may just go off the rails at any moment. This would be a b-movie film noir if it had been made in the 50s. It's a nice throwback. My only complaint is the unrealistic ending. I won't spoil it, but suffice to say it's highly unlikely that someone would be able to get away free with what transpires here. Bale is extraordinary as the psycho ex-Marine. Watch if you don't mind getting a little tensed up.
 BAD ASS September 12, 2009
TrekbikeLouie (El Paso)
kick ass movie, it's a shame it didnt do better- but none the less, it's more of a guy movie. Most chicks dont understand this. Sadness
 You gotta be joking... August 30, 2009
Anthony F. DeVoe (Mesa, Arizona United States)
Ok, so I've read through some of the reviews here, and Bale is tagged as a hard mofo who is running the streets with danger being his ally.
Let me say this, this movie will not prepare anybody for the real streets. Bale's character would be hogtied and put on a leash and drug through the streets that he was supposedly running rampant through. Any day of the week, and twice on Tuesday.
Let me tell you just one scene, the most ridiculous of all scenes I've seen in years- Bale's character is trying to be a cop, but for some unknown reason doesn't get into the force. Maybe it's because he's SO LOCO. Any way, he gets called by Homeland Security instead, and is told he needs to take a piss test a day after he decides to smoke some pot. So, he starts freaking out, and he takes a turkey baster full of vinegar and injects himself with it. You can imagine where.
I don't smoke marijuana or do drugs of any sort, but even I know just about all the ways to pass a drug test when you aren't clean- I've never heard anything as ridiculous or painful as a turkey baster full of vinegar.
From beginning to end, one of the most ridiculous and over reaching movies I've ever seen. Bale is a great actor, but he must've owed somebody a favor to take this role. I walked away thinking, and am still somewhat certain, this movie was written by fundamental Christians trying to scare kids away from coloring outside the lines, because the whole thing is based around a guy who takes his eyes off of his goals and gets sidetracked with what he calls "partying". And of course, his whole life falls apart because of it. You know, doing anything in excess, including partying, can be very destructive- but watching this movie even once is far more damning to one's soul. Really, a horrible, horrible movie.
"Harsh Times" speaks to its times. June 17, 2009
Koreatown Krooner (Los Angeles)
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.
Damage Case... March 13, 2009
Bindy Sue Frønkünschtein (under the rubble)
Jim (Christian Bale) is a man with a plan for his future. His dream is to be in law enforcement, to be a cop. The thing is, Jim has an anger problem. Well, ok, Jim is a seething ball of rage and fury. He is hell unleashed on the streets of LA. Now, this was a beneficial quality in his army ranger days, but not so much in civilian life. Jim is an extremely volitile individual without fear or limits. His best friend, Mike (Freddy Rodriguez) sticks by him, even when Jim begins his homicidal / suicidal descent into final madness. HARSH TIMES is brutal and cruel. Bale is incredible in his mentally destroyed role. The rest of the characters can only watch Jim's fatal journey into oblivion. We are taken along for one last ride...
Showing reviews 1-5 of 71
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