The Berkeley Beacon

Issue date: 11/9/06 Section: Arts and Entertainment

Media Credit: courtesy of MGM Films When he's not injecting vinegar into his penis, Christian Bale (right) kindly lights cigarettes for his friends. [Click to enlarge]

Jim Davis (Christian Bale), the central character of Harsh Times, wants to become an agent for the Department of Homeland Security.

Unfortunately, he swigs Jose Cuervo and smokes a lot of dope the day before his urine exam. At the last minute, Jim decides to solve the problem by taking a turkey baster full of vinegar and injecting it into his penis.

This original philosophy is what most of Harsh Times revolves around. It's supposedly a crime thriller set in Los Angeles, but after watching the audience chuckle uncontrollably through the majority of the film, it would appear that Harsh Times falls more under the genre of comedy.

Bale disagrees.

"It's a very multilayered movie that appears to play on a very simplistic level," said the star when interviewed by The Beacon. "You'll see that my character is a very interesting and engaging character. It's a joyride."

Joyride? It's unclear whether one would describe the film as a joy. It's hard to take your eyes off of it, for sure; it's like witnessing a 10-car pile-up on the freeway.

Director David Ayer, the writer of Training Day, was similarly passionate about the film as a whole.

"Growing up in South Central, I came of age in the streets," he said in an interview with The Beacon. "There was always built-in drama and inherent menace. That's how this film feels."

Again, a slight addendum should be made to that last comment. Harsh Times has plenty of unintentional humor, but there is no menace or drama to be found. In truth, the film feels a lot like Training Day after a lobotomy.

Harsh Times negatively transcends being a bad film in that it makes no logical or cohesive sense at all.

The "story," set mostly in L.A., follows two guys (Freddy Rodriguez and Bale) driving around town, getting drunk, and whining about wanting women.

The two lines most frequently used in the film's first half hour are, "Shit, I want to get fucked up" and "I want to get laid, man!," the latter statement being repeated twice in the span of 20 seconds.

Continued...

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