Harsh Times (2006)

I love this movie so much

Instant Favorite.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

I read reviews here on movies that I might watch on premium networks or 'On Demand' movies. So, there were several good ones about this movie, likening it to "Training Day", which I loved. Wow, what a huge disappointment, not even close to Training Day. With a good cast, I had high expectations. So, if you like f**k, this and f**k that, and homeboy handshakes every 40 seconds, you're in luck. I kept expecting the plot to pick up. I kept expecting the acting to get better. I kept hoping the grainy film would clear up. Just don't look for anything more than 'filler' on your screen. I forwarded to the bitter end after about an hour and change. Look elsewhere!

A shitty movie about shitty people. It starts out well. A veteran has problems finding a job after six years as a ranger in Afghanistan. He's in love with a girl in Mexico and spends what time he can visiting her, all the while not being allowed alone with her by her family. He sees himself as law enforcement material and applies to various agencies for a job. He has a best buddy whom he hangs out with and every day convinces to blow off his job search (encouraged by the dude's attorney girlfriend) to instead get drunk and smoke dope while they drive around in a seeming unmarked cop car as they commit minor dope thefts and shakedowns of the vet's enemies. One day they both (miraculously!) get jobs. They head down to Mexico to celebrate and upon their return, the vet messes everything up. That's the best I can explain without creating spoilers.

Harsh times is a very hard film to enjoy. Its a gritty drama, filled with violence, drugs and insanity. That's why people seem to dismiss it, there's so much in-you-face material that the deeper meaning gets ignored.I can't comment too much without spoiling, so I'll just give a recommendation- watch the whole film and try too look past the IMDb score and your first impression of the characters.Bale's acting gets bashed a lot, but that's part of his character. His psychotic behavior and insanity are part of the loud subtlety of this film.Even if we ignore the plot, this movie has a great atmosphere that will appeal to people who enjoy realistic and dark portrayals of real life cities. It reminded me a lot of The Wire.

I might have been able to relate to this . A man tries to get a job and finds himself in all sorts of shenanigans. A simple enough idea but one that never really extends beyond that and you're reminded of earlier and later movies such as TAXI DRIVER and that one of Denzil Washington playing a bent cop . In fact the whole structure of HARSH TIMES resembles the one of TRAINING DAY as the two protagonists roll criminals and get up to all kinds of naughtiness Christian Bale made something of a career out of playing scary nutters and here he is at it again . For a man born in the Welsh valleys he is relatively impressive in these type of roles but the problem I've always had with Bale is that he never seems to communicate a sense of empathy to this audience members . In short his characters are unlikable and I have to say I did find HARSH TIMES very much an unlikable movie