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Film Muser Rating : 1.5 / 5
Release Date : November 10, 2006
Running Time : 119 minutes

Harsh Times stars Christian Bale as Jim Davis, a former army Ranger and mentally unstable man who served in Afghanistan. After being honourably discharged, he now finds himself back in South Central Los Angeles where he and his long time friend Mike Alonzo (played by Freddy Rodriguez) spend their time partying, dabbling in petty crime, and engaging in other juvenile acts. Davis is committed to joining some form of law enforcement, and Alonzo is unemployed and being hounded by his long-time girlfriend played by Eva Longoria to find a job. Instead of helping his friend distribute resumes, Davis continues to act as a bad influence on Alonzo, urging him into one devious deed after another.

Christian Bale in “Harsh Times”

Brought to us by the writer of Training Day, David Ayer gives us the same gritty story, but it no where near as effective. I just couldn’t take Harsh Times seriously as I watched it. As much as I like Christian Bale, I thought his performance laughable and over-the-top. I just didn’t buy his hip-hop and street slang and most of the dialog seemed ridiculous to me. And even beyond the slang, his conversations with his love interest are cheesy and just don’t seem genuine.

The film portrays Davis and Alonzo as mischievous children as they skip out on their responsibilities to drink and smoke pot while cruising around Los Angeles, more-or-less looking for trouble. Alonzo is like the good kid who just happens to hang around a bad seed, getting caught up in the wrong activities. Even though this is a decent premise, the majority of their scenes seem just too unbelievable, and you continually ask yourself, “who acts like this?”

It is suggested that it was Davis’s wartime experiences that led to his mental instability through a number of brief scenes. It was interesting to see the LAPD reject him due to his questionable psych profile, but in turn it was what made him attractive to the Department of Homeland Security. I think it would have been much more compelling to take the story in this direction, but instead we are given what is supposed to be a hard-nosed, in-your-face film that comes off more contrived than anything. As the film progresses, it is obvious where it is going, yet we never see any redeeming qualities surface from Davis, hence making the final moments ineffective.

Memorable Scene
After being rejected by the LAPD, Davis wants nothing more than to get “wasted”, resulting in him and Alonzo scoring some weed and getting stoned. Later that day, Davis receives a call from the Department of Homeland Security asking him to come in for a preliminary urine test. Having just smoked multiple joints, Davis knows he’s screwed unless he comes up with some scheme to beat the test. Prior to checking in for the “wiz quiz”, as the recruiter likes to call it, Davis creates a contraption out of a meat baster that he uses to inject a clean urine sample directly into his bladder through his “you know what” - all while sitting in the car with Alonzo. As unrealistic as it probably is, it’s still a pretty entertaining scene.