Harsh Times

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This film makes me recall my "stupid punk kid" days better then anything I've seen since Law of Gravity.  The film is called Harsh Times and stars an excellent performance by Christian Bale.  It's from the same sirector/writer, David Ayer,that gave us Training Day.  I truly can't comprehend why this never
became a big hit: I consider it the equal or possibly better than Training Day.

I've read the reviews and theircriticisms are valid but the fact is I knew people like this and can
tell you that it's fairly accurate about the low lives of our society. I should know; I was once a low life.  Frankly I see myself in all thecharacters (sans homicidal tendencies). The best example is the scene
where the Mike Alonzo character (played by Freddy Rodriguez) tells hishomeboy Jim Davis (played by Christian Bale) that he doesn't want toparty with him and Jim berates Mike for choosing to stay with his girl
instead of hanging with him, or when Sylvia tells Mike he can't hangout with Jim and Mike tells her that she can't tell him what to do(irregardless of how this will effect their relationship).  I've doneand said all the same stuff.  It's like Ayer drilled into all my good and bad memories of when I was a young man.

Granted alot of guys have had similar experiences.  What separates thesecharacters and myself is that most have never experienced violence insuch a laisse faire attitude or become a victim of circumstances.  It’s
a dangerous combination of peer pressure, apathy, and a voyeurism of your own tragedy.  In other words, I was a dumb lazy kid associatingwith dangerous dumb lazy kids.

I'll be honest and tell you that my experiences were more juxtaposed to the Toussant character(played by Chaka Forman). I'm more of a peripheral character thattouches but never becomes one of the hardcore idiot/loser types.  When things got a little too intense, I too just left the car and went home.
      
This started as a film review but I supposed it’s more about me in the past tense. Even if it is, if you liked
Training Day, Reservoir Dogs, or any other film that deals with thedynamics of young violent prone men, then rent this film.  You're going to really like it.
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