With David Ayer’s awesome trailer to the movie Bright hitting the streets yesterday and Ayer recently commenting at SDCC that making Bright felt a lot like making his first film, we must take a look at his directorial debut: Harsh Times.
Synopsis: A tough minded drama about two friends in South Central Los Angeles and the violence that comes between them.
The movie stars Christian Bale as the crazy-as-fuck Jim (don’t know why people were so surprised when he went nuts on the Terminator Salvation set) and Freddy Rodriguez as Mike. These two guys ride around all day – Jim trying to get into the police academy and Mike just trying to get a job to satisfy his wife Sylvia, played by Eva Longoria. Throughout the day these two get into some shit: running into ex-girlfriends and getting into fights with punks, most notably Flaco, played by Noel Gugliemi (and if they beat his ass in every movie he is in, that would be best for everyone, fuck that guy).
The movie also plays a bit like Training Day with Bale in the Denzel role, except a lot crazier. Jim is an army vet who did a lot of crazy shit while in the service so he’s got some problems that he brought back with him. Rodriguez, basically in the Ethan Hawke role, is more like the moral compass of the movie. He’s trying to balance actually getting a job with not letting go of the good life (getting drunk and smoking weed all day).
The way Ayer tells his story is very in line with his other directorial efforts. With Street Kings, End of Watch, Sabotage and Fury he definitely plays God with all of his characters and any one of them can go at any time. That is one of the great things about his movies. He sets his characters up for the audience to love or hate and just like in real life, they can go at any time.
Harsh Times is no exception.
This movie is definitely worth a second look and while you’re at it, give Suicide Squad another look with an open mind. Ayer didn’t deserve the hate on that gem.
You can find Mando holding down a real job and not getting drunk or high all day at @manbat33 when he’s not co-hosting the @TalentedSlacker podcast!