Harsh Times review

One of the best of the recent US indie offerings, Harsh Times is the directorial debut of David Ayer whose previous screenplay credits include SWAT and The Fast and the Furious. His new effort however, most resembles the Oscar-winning Training Day which he also penned. It's a gritty affair which won't please everyone, but many will find that it has plenty of interesting things to say about contemporary America.

Christian Bale plays Jim David, an ex-soldier who keeps a Mexican girlfriend across the border from his hometown of Los Angeles. When his money runs out, he returns to the city to hook up with his old friend Mike (Freddy Rodriguez) in order to have one last party before he finds a job. Bale's Jim is charming and persuasive, but he also suffers from a barely-hidden anger management problem.

Mike is also trying to get on the straight and narrow: his wife Sylvia (Eva Longoria) is an up-and-coming lawyer, and Jim's reappearance forces him to decide between the drink and drugs lifestyle the two had previously shared, and the conventional nine-to-five route. The two spend a couple of days having one last hurrah which sees them - rather like Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke in Training Day - crisscrossing the LA underworld. Ayer paints a fascinating if at times disturbing picture of this seedy environment.

Part of the fascination comes from the situations the two find themselves in: two American men trying to keep their identity and dignity in a world that has given up caring about them. Coupled with the characters themselves this makes for an often compelling film.

Bale delivers a performance that is more akin to his work in The Machinist than Batman Begins. Jim is a tortured soul, struggling to suppress a well of anger which explodes dramatically over the course of the two hours. As the relatively normal Mike, Freddy Rodriguez adds to his recent list of impressive credentials. All in all, a healthy alternative to the current crop of summer blockbusters.

Paul Hurley