Notes

Harsh Times life at the limit

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Christian Bale is without a doubt one of the most talented character mimes that contemporary Hollywood has to offer. His portrayal of the psychopath Patrick Bateman in the Bret Easton Ellis film American Psycho was as haunted as the emaciated Trevor Reznik from Brad Anderson's The Machinist. "Shaft", The Rule of Fire and above all his really great embodiment of the dark bat hero from Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins proved that Bale knows just as much about blockbuster cinema as he is about weird, abnormal character roles. His war veteran drama “Harsh Times”, however, cannot meet expectations despite Bale's undoubtedly high acting level. The plot and other characters in the film look too flat, banal and clichéd.



"Harsh Times", the directorial debut of David Ayer, who has so far mainly appeared as a screenwriter, celebrated its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival 2005. In Germany, the film will be released as a direct-to-DVD premiere without a theatrical release.



Christian Bale mimes the mentally badly deformed Afghanistan veteran Jim Davis, who after six years of service with the United States Army Rangers, better known as "Green Berets", is trying to gain a foothold in the police force. But his impulsive character and especially his drug consumption have so far ruined all of his applications. At his side, Freddy Rodriguez plays the lovable, meek Latino sidekick Mike Alonzo, who is also looking for a job after a professional failure as a web designer and has long been supported by his attractive and resolute wife Sylvia ("Desperate Housewife" Eva Longoria) is dragged through.



Jim is aiming for a career in the police department of Los Angeles and would like to marry his Mexican girlfriend, but he and Mike repeatedly get carried away with drug escapades or petty criminals. In several confrontations, including with his ex-girlfriend's partner, he barely escapes a fiasco every time. When both smuggle a large load of hashish across the border from Mexico, the disaster finally takes its course.



It is the classic story of a downfall, of an individual who, after traumatic war experiences, can no longer find his way in his familiar environment and who, due to the behavior patterns acquired during war, has to fail due to the laws of civilization. Like Franz Biberkopf from Alfred Döblin's “Berlin Alexanderplatz”, this Jim Davis actually wants to find work and an apartment in order to become a new person, and yet he becomes the victim of spontaneous urges, temptations and impulsive outbursts of emotion and anger.

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However, director and screenwriter David Ayer hardly lives up to the high standards of a war veteran drama. Far too flat, far too unimportant and unimportant, and far too clich&eacute;d, the loser story shoots its powder right at the beginning. Already in the first few minutes of the film, the viewer is given the main character's emotional deformations by the spoonfuls: returning from the war, Jim has insomnia, is unable to relate and love, impulsive, instinct-driven and, due to the traumas he has suffered, not only cannot be rehabilitated himself, but also tears his innocent and innocent ones good-hearted friend Mike to doom. Of all things, David Ayer, who, as the screenwriter in Antoine Fuqa's excellent Training Day, sent Oscar winner Denzel Washington as a devious, evil and thoroughly corrupt cop on the expressionist journey through the midnight city, would have been expected to have a lot more sensitivity with such a material .



Ayer also fails to give his film a real tension. Jims and Mike's cockfights with Latino gangs, drug dealers, wives and ex-girlfriends are staged as a flat number revue in front of a ghetto backdrop. And although you soon suspect the dark end of the story, there is a complete lack of compelling, inner tension that is heading towards it, especially since the viewer cannot develop any sympathy or sympathy for one of the two main characters at any point. With this, &quot;Harsh Times&quot; remains miles behind Ayer's masterpiece &quot;Training Day&quot; despite multiple, overly clear bonds, but rather remains at the level of his other, rather simple-minded scripts such as U-571, The Fast And The Furious or S.W.A.T ..



In terms of performance, Christian Bale, who is great despite the bland plot, clearly stands out from the rest of the cast. Some of them have well-known names (Freddy Rodriguez, Eva Longoria), but hardly any remarkable acting achievements. Spider-Man star J.K. makes a nice little guest appearance. Simmons as an FBI instructor. Whom


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