6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.7 |
Jim Davis is an ex-Army Ranger recently discharged from the military, yet still haunted by nightmares of his former occupation. While seeking a position with the LAPD that will allow him to marry his Mexican girlfriend and bring her to the United States, Jim kills time chilling with his best friend, Mike. Mike is feeling the heat from his longtime girlfriend, Sylvia: either get a job or get out. But the love of a beautiful woman can't compare to the bonds of friendship, and Jim and Mike are soon cruising the streets of South Central, slipping back into a deceitful life of drugs, violence and petty crime, just like when they were kids.
Starring: Christian Bale, Eva Longoria, Freddy Rodriguez, J.K. Simmons, Noel GugliemiCrime | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Is there a more naturally intense actor working today than Christian Bale? Bale seemingly seethes with barely controlled fury in any number of portrayals, and despite a generally chameleon like quality which allows him to fully inhabit completely disparate characters, there’s a shared focus and passion to all of his work that sometimes can actually undercut the validity of a film. Anyone who’s seen Bale running nude through an apartment hallway with a chainsaw in American Psycho can probably relate to the fact that when an actor is as unbelievably potent as Bale usually is, things can teeter uncomfortably close to self-parody, at least some of the time. This very intensity has gotten Bale into some trouble off screen as well (his infamous rant on the set of Terminator: Salvation is a good example), and his persona is so vigorous onscreen that when he appears as "just himself" (as in the recent Academy Awards), it's almost unbelievable that this affable, English-accented gentleman is the same person who regularly burns up the screen. It’s also sometimes hard to remember that this was the sweet child actor who came to prominence in Steven Spielberg’s oddly often forgotten Empire of the Sun. Perhaps it was simply Bale’s youth that made that performance less over the top than some of the actor’s adult work, or perhaps it was the guiding hand of a firm but nurturing director, something that Bale hasn’t always had the benefit of in his adult career. When Bale's natural intensity is channeled by someone like Christopher Nolan, there's no finer actor working today. When Bale is left to his own perhaps at least intermittently self-indulgent devices, things are a bit dicier. Harsh Times falls into a sort of middle ground, both in terms of the film generally and Bale's work within it. Bale is never less than viscerally, gut-wrenchingly watchable throughout this movie, a gritty look at post traumatic stress order and the slow, steady dissolution of a couple of buddies' American Dream and/or Nightmare. But there's also an almost lunatic frenzy to this film, and to at least moments of Bale's depiction of war veteran Jim Davis, that make Harsh Times more about technique than about story.
Harsh Times is one of those films that is going to separate videophiles into two distinct camps. Should every Blu-ray look similarly pristine and sharp no matter what the source elements? Or should it accurately reflect the original theatrical presentation? If you fall into that second category, you'll probably be reasonably pleased with the film's AVC encoded 1080p presentation in 1.78:1, as long as you keep in mind Ayers filmed this piece in Super 16, a format not exactly known for its overwhelmingly sharp and clear image. Add to that a number of processed shots, as in the opening "night vision" dreamscape, and several other desaturated and abundantly grainy segments, and you have a film that does not shy from a gritty, grimy look, and in fact seems to want to exploit that look as much as possible. Therefore a great deal of fine detail is lost and scenes can vary rather largely in terms of detail and contrast, and some of the darker scenes feature grain which tilts toward digital noise levels. A lot of the film has been filtered toward the yellow side of things, adding a hallucinatory edge to many scenes.
An incredibly forceful and robust lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix assaults the listener throughout much of Harsh Times, starting right off the bat with the hallucinatory dream sequence which is punctuated by gunshots and the deep LFE "thump thump" of the soundtrack music. While the film treads a fine line between sensationalized action elements and quieter, "kitchen sink drama" fare, the soundtrack is able to present both sides of the aural equation with equal ease. Dialogue and the ubiquitous source cue underscore are clear and precise, and very well mixed. When the film explodes in gunfire or other violence we get an incredibly immersive, punchy mix that fills the surrounds with all manner of explosive effects.
Harsh Times is one of those films which ardently want to prove how "real life" down and dirty it is by portraying a host of conflicted and troubled souls in the throes of moral degradation. That doesn't exactly make for a feel good cinema experience, and Ayer further complicates matters by making his two lead characters fairly unsympathetic throughout. However, if you're a Bale fan, you'll probably want to check out this film for its blistering lead performance. Depending on your point of view, it's either good news or bad that Bale does not appear nude with a strategically placed chainsaw anywhere in this film.
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