Harsh Times
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| Harsh Times | |
|---|---|
 Promotional Poster |
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| Directed by | David Ayer |
| Produced by | David Ayer Andrea Sperling |
| Written by | David Ayer |
| Starring | Christian Bale Freddy Rodriguez Eva Longoria |
| Music by | Graeme Revell |
| Cinematography | Steve Mason |
| Editing by | Conrad Buff |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Pictures, Bauer Martinez Entertainment |
| Release date(s) |  November 10, 2006 |
| Running time | 116 minutes |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2 million |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Harsh Times is an American 2006 crime film set in South Los Angeles. Christian Bale, Freddy Rodriguez, and Eva Longoria star in the film, which is directed and written by David Ayer, who wrote the Academy Award-winning Training Day, and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Pictures and Bauer Martinez Entertainment. Ayer says that the film's characters are greatly based on the people he knew when he lived in South Central.
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[edit] Plot summary
Jim Davis (Christian Bale) is an ex-Army Ranger recently honorably discharged from the military due to reasons not mentioned. He suffers from extreme post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) over the killing and horrors of his combat tours in which he took part with a savage aggressiveness towards the enemy.
Jim has a Mexican girlfriend, Marta (Tammy Trull), whom he is determined to marry, and bring into the United States to start a life together. With this in mind, Jim returns to Los Angeles.
In L.A. he meets up with his almost brother-like friend Mike Alonzo (Freddy Rodriguez). Mike is feeling pressure from his longtime girlfriend, Sylvia (Eva Longoria), a young attorney, to either get a job or get out. After being denied a position in the Los Angeles Police Department for failing the LAPD psychological profile Jim's frustration takes over and he rebounds to stealing and selling marijuana and handguns. He convinces Mike to join him in this liberating atmosphere and both of them make some quick bucks and a few enemies.
Jim gets shortlisted for a position with Homeland Security, and after cheating on a urine test (Jim drinks a fair amount of vinegar, and injects a large quantity of liquid urea into his bladder, inserting a turkey baster into his urethra), it appears that he is going to be given a position. Jim manages to pass the urinalysis test, but subsequently fails a polygraph test due to a question about his drug use. The only hope left for him is a man working out of Colombia, who appreciates Jim's ability to "get things done"; Jim eventually accepts the position, but is warned that he must not get married as his position will not support this.
Jim goes to visit Marta along with Mike and another one of his friends. While there, Marta reveals that she is pregnant, and Jim responds poorly, threatening to punch Marta in the stomach and shoot her in the head; in the end, this is a result of Jim's PTSD.
On the way back, Jim reveals that he is transporting 20kg of marijuana, much to Mike's chagrin. When they arrive to sell the dope, they realize one of the buyers was part of a group they had earlier robbed and beaten. Hostility ensues with both Jim and the other gang member pulling out their guns, resulting in the other man's death. The other members of the buying party present plead for their lives but Jim kills them without much thought. While escaping in the car, a man from inside the house steps out and shoots at the car; Jim is hit in the back and the side of his face. Jim is consequently paralyzed, whether through trauma to his brain or his spinal cord being severed. He urges Mike to "step up" and shoot him, ending his suffering. Mike does so, and the film ends with him returning to his girlfriend, who was in the process of packing to leave.
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Christian Bale | Jim Davis |
| Freddy Rodriguez | Mike Alonzo |
| Eva Longoria | Sylvia |
| Terry Crews | Darrell |
| Noel Guglielmi | Flaco |
| Chaka Forman | Toussant |
| Blue Mesquita | Leo |
| Michael Monks | Agent Hollenbreck |
| J.K. Simmons | Agent Richards |
| Armando Riesco | Alex |
| Emilio Rivera | Eddy |
| Tammy Trull | Marta |
[edit] DVD and HD DVD release
The DVD was released on March 13, 2007 and the HD DVD on June 12, 2007 by Genius Products and The Weinstein Company. The film itself was presented in anamorphic widescreen, along with English language and Spanish language Dolby Digital 5.1. Surround tracks. Special features included seven deleted scenes and a feature length audio commentary by David Ayer. The HD DVD is presented in 1080p with a MPEG-4 AVC encoding and has a Dolby TrueHD track in addition to a Dolby Digital Plus track for its audio.
[edit] Reaction
The reaction from movie goers and critics were mixed. However, Christian Bale was greatly praised for his portrayal of Jim, the unhinged war veteran.[citation needed]
