Cheap Harsh Times (DVD) (David Ayer) Price

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Customer Reviews of Harsh Times

If you think Con-Air and Lethal Weapon were really cool this probably isn't for you.
If you think the ultimate cop/action movie is one where Bruce Willis or Nicholas Cage plays an on the edge, cop run amok than you will be disappointed by this one. Very little happens, action wise for quite awhile. And when it does, it's short and sweet. To my mind, this makes those moments much more powerful. The present-day addiction to unrelenting titillation in most guy-movies is boring beyond belief. I watched The Rock for all of fifteen minutes before the hand-held drove me crazy and I walked out. Be assured that the proliferation of hand-hand camera in most films these days is about shooting fast and cheap with no need for those complicated lighting set-ups. Hand-held is fine, but only when the story demands it. <
>To my mind this is the story of the lead character's unravelling, not one about Hollywood formula. If you can't step out of your addiction to three-act/inciting moment on page 18/good-guy wins in the end shake and bake crap than don't waste your time. If you watched and enjoyed The Conversation (1973) with Gene Hackman you'll probably enjoy this. Critics at the time complained about the lack of story and the focus on a single character, and now many see it as one of Coppola's best. I've heard it's his favorite. I think it's much more interesting than The Godfather films. <
>Because Bale is so good and Ayer focuses on mood, and the nuance of character, and he delivers a both logical and brutal payoff at the end I don't see how you can give this less than three stars. I wish most of the reviewers on this site and others could seperate their taste from their analysis. Think about the history of film and the ones that truly deserve a one or a two. The claim that this does is patently absurd. It says much more about you as a reviewer than it does about the film. Give it a three if you understand anything about film and yet you find this to be not your cup of tea. I have said about many a film or TV show that I don't care to watch it, but it is obviously well done ie. story/writing, photography and direction. ER is the perfect example. Never watched a full episode, never intend to. That doesn't mean that ER=Bad. Just not for me. As a reviewer you are, surprise surprise not the center of the universe. That's what makes 98 percent of the user reviews completely useless to us and a waste of time for you. Most of you have no idea what you're doing and you're just engaged in some sort of sophomoric justification of your taste. <
>Anyway, the wonderful thing about Harsh Times is the ending culminates an almost unbearable build-up (unbearable in the sense that as I wach I actually feel the tension generated by watching a man gradually come undone in front of my eyes, and yet Bale helps bring some real sympathy to the character). There are very few characters in contemporary film this complex and this interesting. I heard similar complaints about Training Day, but after seeing Harsh Times I went back and watched. I thought it was a wonderful film and both Wahington and Hawke were great. Be assured that in twenty years the critics will rave about David Ayer and people will talk about him as one of the most important directors of the beginning of this century. Lethal Weapon? We'll see Richard Donner as a formula hack who entertained many with cheap flashy garbage.

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Micro Reviews take two
Harsh Times is a story about... Well... there are these two guys and... they can... whoo boy this could get rough. <
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>Its true that Harsh Times really doesn't have a story. There is no plot. There is no story-necessary agenda. Some movies can succeed royaly on this. Slingblade comes to mind (The absolute point of slingblade isn't achieved till near the end. Love the movie.) Let me give this a shot: There are two guys who apparently go "way back", to when we don't know. They love driving in cars, as they spend (no joke) over half the movie just riding around drinking beer and getting high. Bale is great, but then again he can just BE in a movie and be great. They could have him staring at a wall for two hours and I think he could pull it off. Actually between all the fighting and action that there's NOT, there is actually some genuinely funny moments. I will take a moment to say, TRAILERS ARE LIKE BOOK COVERS. Nah-mean? <
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>I didn't hate the movie by the way, but if you wanna see it, rent it. Performances are this movie's only strong point.

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Ugly
David Ayer, the director of "Harsh Times" also wrote the screenplay for the audacious, Denzel starring "Training Day" and from the look and feel of "HT" it seems that Ayer used all the stuff leftover from "HT." The deleted scenes that didn't make sense, the bits of the screenplay that didn't sound right or play properly: all the detritus of "Training Day" and for that matter "Swat" and "Dark Blue" which Ayer also penned. <
>The extraordinary Christian Bale ("The Mechanist") stars as Jim Davis, recently released from the Armed Forces and suffering from alcoholism, drug addiction and a tub full of psychoses too numerable to name. In other words: Jim Davis is a mess which in itself might be interesting had Ayer written anything interesting for Bale to perform as well as for his sidekick Freddy Martinez ("6 Feet Under") as Alonzo. Bale is a master at this type of role: the edgy loner, the criminally insane, the outsider who has no hope nor any desire to "come in"...but the guy needs something to work with. Eva Langoria is wasted as Alonzo's shrew wife. <
>"Harsh Times" is a major disappointment: full of ugly violence, devoid of cogent character motivation and rife with repulsive racial slurs. Avoid this turkey at all costs. <
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