Review of Harsh Times (2005) by Van R — 14 May 2010

Writer & director David Ayer must have been channeling Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" when he penned the screenplay for "Harsh Times." The loose cannon protagonist, Jim Luther Davis, is an honorably discharged U.S. Army Ranger with an anger management problem who is between jogs and suffers from panick attacks. He harbors painful memories from his tour of duty in the Gulf War where he exercised extreme prejudice and knocked off the enemy without a qualm. Charles Bronson would have coveted this role in the 1970s. Robert De Niro would have reveled in it during the 1980s. Nobody is better qualified to play this part than Christian Bale who made psychos his cup of tea with "American Psycho." Bale wears his hair trimmed to the scalp and has the soulless stare to match his glare. Nothing about his performance seems remotely bogus. Ayers creates many suspenseful, exciting scenes, and the surprises never stop coming. Everything in "Harsh Times" seems arbitrary. There is no plot and our heroes spend their time wandering around the City of Angels. Nevertheless, the ending is unforgettable and Bale's performance is fabulous. Unfortunately, "Harsh Times" lives up to its title because it gradually shifts from being an audacious character study to an unsavory crime thriller with a trigger-happy protagonist who has a hard time distinguishing reality from illusion.

Basically, for the first half-hour or more, "Harsh Times" could have been called "Riding in Cars with Psychos." The lead character lives in Los Angeles and is trying to land a job on the Los Angeles Police Department so he can bring his girlfriend, Marta (Tammy Trull of "Havoc"), up from Mexico and marry her. Meanwhile, he hangs out with his best friend since childhood Mike Alonzo (Freddy Rodriguez of "Poseidon") who is searching for a job, too. Mike lost his job, but when he had it, he was able to put his wife through law school. Now, his wife Sylvia (Eva Longoria of "Desperate Housewives") wants him to get a job so they can be equals. Instead, Mike finds himself cruising around South Central Los Angeles getting drunk and stoned with Davis. Davis throws all of Mike's resumes out the window as they are driving and Mike concocts a scheme where he gets Davis and his other friends to leave telephone messages on his answering machine at home about prospective job interviews. This ploy works for a while, but Sylvia eventually discovers that the calls are lies. During these rides, they steal a bag of marijuana from a street dealer, rip off contraband guns from an Hispanic gangbanger, and have a close encounter at a Mexican bar where a tough guy is attached by an assailant with a broken beer bottle and slashes his carotid artery so he gushes blood all over the floor and dies.

Later, Davis learns that the LAPD has rejected his application so he puts in one for Homeland Security. He is puffing on a joint when Homeland Security rings him up on the phone and schedules a urinalysis the following day. Our protagonist gulps vinegar and does something weird that looks like he is shooting urine into his penis so that he can ace the whiz quiz. Homeland Security runs a polygraph on him and discovers that he is clenching his buttocks when questions are put to him so he can throw them off. In short, the polygraph technician warns Davis that he has seen every trick in the book and will disqualify Davis if he doesn't straighten up. Miraculously, despite his lies and deception, Davis is hired by Homeland Security, but he refuse to let him marry Marta and they want to dispatch him to the jungles of South America to help with their narcotics interdiction program. Meantime, Mike lands a job to the surprise of his wife. Davis and another old friend take Mike to Mexico so Davis can see Marta. He learns that she is pregnant and he blows a gasket and nearly kills her. Back in Los Angeles, Davis and Mike run into some old adversaries and a gunfight erupts.

"Harsh Times" is not for the squeamish, but Ayer generates loads of atmosphere and the dialogue has an authentic flavor.