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Harsh Times (2006 - David Ayer)
The directorial debut of David Ayer, the screenwriter responsible for Training Day and Dark Blue, it isn't ultimately as strong as his previous work. Harsh Times is the story of two buddies in South Central L.A. We're never told how they met or how long the've been friends, so I guess it isn't important. One of them is Jim Davis (Christian Bale), an ex-Army Ranger looking to use his skills in some form of Stateside law enforcement. His buddy is Mike Alonzo (Freddy Rodriguez from "Six Feet Under"). Mike is currently unemployed, much to the dismay of his wife, Sylvia (Eva Longoria from "Desperate Houswives"). Mike had paid all the bills while Sylvia was going to law school, but now that she's made it he's just been killing time drinking beer and watching television. To put it lightly, Jim is not the best influence.
While waiting to hear from the various agencies around town, Jim takes Mike to some of their old haunts as they drink and toke up and even commit some minor crimes. It's clear to us (and to Sylvia) that Jim is a psycho. Just about everybody gets that except for Mike, who has a blind spot for his wild friend. The L.A.P.D. gets it too, and they reject his application. This turns his insanity up a notch, but then he gets a call from the Department of Homeland Security. They want him all right, but they want him because he's a psycho; they intend to unleash him in Columbia to do black bag ops against drug cartels. Through a couple dreams/flashback and some photos we see the kind of Hell Jim was a part of in the Army (serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, it's not made clear which), and however unstable and reckless he was as a lad on the streets of Los Angeles the military uncorked a psychotic mess. He's made an attempt to become something like normal, with a young Mexican finacé on the other side of the border and hopes of settling in L.A. or San Diego as a cop. When it is spelled out for him that he is only valued as an inhuman tool of bloody destruction, that small sliver of hope he had evaporates. But will he take Mike down with him, too?
The post-traumatic stress psycho stuff is only mildly interesting, and while Bale is a very good actor he's only asked to act out a bunch of clichés. Like Training Day this is an amped up, overly stylized morality play with little grounding in reality...which is too bad. A movie that more seriously looked at the character's psychology may have made for a good film. As is it's a device in a video game, and not much more. Rodriguez does all that he can with what he's given, but the character has to make a couple of leaps that don't make much sense in order to move the plot forward. Longoria is only in about fifteen minutes of the movie and she's mostly fine as the worried wife, but her part too is underwritten and only seems to react for plot machinations. On screen Bale is compelling, as always, despite the film's flaws in focus and tone, but by the last act it's just not enough to make a difference and there aren't any real surprises along the way. Training Day and Dark Blue were no match for the likes of Serpico, Q&A and Prince of the City that had inspired them, and now Harsh Times is even less than that lowered bar.
GRADE: C-
Harsh Times (2006 - David Ayer)
The directorial debut of David Ayer, the screenwriter responsible for Training Day and Dark Blue, it isn't ultimately as strong as his previous work. Harsh Times is the story of two buddies in South Central L.A. We're never told how they met or how long the've been friends, so I guess it isn't important. One of them is Jim Davis (Christian Bale), an ex-Army Ranger looking to use his skills in some form of Stateside law enforcement. His buddy is Mike Alonzo (Freddy Rodriguez from "Six Feet Under"). Mike is currently unemployed, much to the dismay of his wife, Sylvia (Eva Longoria from "Desperate Houswives"). Mike had paid all the bills while Sylvia was going to law school, but now that she's made it he's just been killing time drinking beer and watching television. To put it lightly, Jim is not the best influence.
While waiting to hear from the various agencies around town, Jim takes Mike to some of their old haunts as they drink and toke up and even commit some minor crimes. It's clear to us (and to Sylvia) that Jim is a psycho. Just about everybody gets that except for Mike, who has a blind spot for his wild friend. The L.A.P.D. gets it too, and they reject his application. This turns his insanity up a notch, but then he gets a call from the Department of Homeland Security. They want him all right, but they want him because he's a psycho; they intend to unleash him in Columbia to do black bag ops against drug cartels. Through a couple dreams/flashback and some photos we see the kind of Hell Jim was a part of in the Army (serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, it's not made clear which), and however unstable and reckless he was as a lad on the streets of Los Angeles the military uncorked a psychotic mess. He's made an attempt to become something like normal, with a young Mexican finacé on the other side of the border and hopes of settling in L.A. or San Diego as a cop. When it is spelled out for him that he is only valued as an inhuman tool of bloody destruction, that small sliver of hope he had evaporates. But will he take Mike down with him, too?
The post-traumatic stress psycho stuff is only mildly interesting, and while Bale is a very good actor he's only asked to act out a bunch of clichés. Like Training Day this is an amped up, overly stylized morality play with little grounding in reality...which is too bad. A movie that more seriously looked at the character's psychology may have made for a good film. As is it's a device in a video game, and not much more. Rodriguez does all that he can with what he's given, but the character has to make a couple of leaps that don't make much sense in order to move the plot forward. Longoria is only in about fifteen minutes of the movie and she's mostly fine as the worried wife, but her part too is underwritten and only seems to react for plot machinations. On screen Bale is compelling, as always, despite the film's flaws in focus and tone, but by the last act it's just not enough to make a difference and there aren't any real surprises along the way. Training Day and Dark Blue were no match for the likes of Serpico, Q&A and Prince of the City that had inspired them, and now Harsh Times is even less than that lowered bar.
GRADE: C-