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Harsh Times

Harsh Times

2006
Drama, Crime
1h 56m
From the writer of "Training Day," Harsh Times is a gritty look at friendship, loyalty and ambition on the extremely rough streets of south central Los Angeles. (MGM)
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Harsh Times

2006
Drama, Crime
1h 56m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 43.82% from 835 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(835)
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Rated 26 Mar 2008
50
34th
This movie is fucking decent but the same fucking things tend to get fucking repeated. They just fucking get stoned then go and beat some fucking guy up and start fucking fighting over some stupid fucking shit. It just tends to get pretty fucking repetetive, but Bale turns in a terrific fucking performance, but thats what Bale tends to fucking do. And they also fucking curse every fucking second word. It really fucking pissed me off. Fuck.
Rated 05 Jul 2008
1
12th
fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck *Christian Bale's Welsh accent pops out* fuck fuck fuck fuck *fuck a slut* fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck *beat up some guys randomly* fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck *do drugs* fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck "Damn, those are bad-ass kicks, dawg." fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck "You ain't down? Fuck you."
Rated 05 Mar 2007
66
50th
It's worth it to see Bale give (another) outstanding performance, but there's not a whole lot else here to see (or maybe there was, and I just didn't see it). I was really looking forward to this movie, and I guess I was just underwhelmed.
Rated 17 Dec 2008
82
76th
While the story itself is not too special, Bale does an amazing performance.
Rated 01 Aug 2009
40
29th
There is a fair bit to like about this film; the performances are solid and the characters interesting. But it's faults are all too clear. Bale is miscast and it's far too repeatative, David Ayer has too be one of the worst screenwriters in Hollywood, and it's far too long.
Rated 22 Feb 2010
47
43rd
Well, I guess that explains the entire federal government.
Rated 27 Apr 2010
85
86th
Difficult to watch at times, but a very compelling drama. Excellent acting.
Rated 19 Nov 2010
40
15th
between dawgs, dudes and homies, there's hardly a script in this movie. the dialogues are woefully bad, all that gang talk is just not believable coming from bale and rodriguez. while bale can pretty easily nail a psycho (since he is one), his performance doesn't omit the fact that his character is underdeveloped and the story has no structure whatsoever.
Rated 30 Jan 2011
68
55th
Bale's pretty awesome (as always) and the other leading actors perform very decent. It's weird though to see Bale in this kind of role and even this he pulls off very well. On the other hand the story is strange but repetitive and sometimes astonishing.
Rated 03 Nov 2012
57
46th
I admire Ayer's grim, self-destructive and vicious take on hood -- or buddy -- film, but the truth is that the characters are made to either tragic or happy closures, which makes the film still enjoyable, but predictable. Chris Bale's commitment is impressive, because he starts as this former-soldier-trying-to-move-on and ends on a dramatic helpless, sick note.
Rated 15 Jul 2013
63
58th
Minimalist drama showing two bro's caught inbetween jobs in LA, sinking fast into the hood life they enjoyed as teens. It's grim stuff - LA is shown to be as dangerous as Afghanistan, and the only civilising force is marriage and a job: without these men become utterly lost in a sun drenched nightmare of cruising around the streets while buzzed, and picking fights with gangs. Violence, women, unemployment, self-destruction: a great men's movie.
Rated 20 Oct 2014
70
65th
David Ayer knows how to portray homies, and while 'Harsh Times' isn't as good as 'Training Day' or 'End of Watch', these characters and their tragedy stayed with me for a while.
Rated 19 Feb 2015
45
27th
I truly enjoy Ayer's studies of masculinity, proving that he understands it's many pitfalls while still basking in it's allure. It's a movie truly deserving the stamp of "flawed but fascinating". At the core there's a multilayered and surprising character portrait but some of the plot mechanics and the events around it seem, well, scripted.
Rated 11 Dec 2006
84
53rd
the movie didnt move me too much, but the fact that it achieved the level of intrest without putting forth any plot whatsoever means i cant just overlook it.
Rated 13 Mar 2007
70
82nd
Great film.
Rated 21 Mar 2007
75
62nd
I harsh (haha) look at street life and the self-destructive nature of a ex-special forces PTSD sufferer who lives in it. It's certainly a depressing film but it does leave room for hope and social change. Worth seeing, especially for Bale's performance.
Rated 12 Jul 2007
70
14th
Other than Bales acting, the movie is pretty lackluster. However, he manages to make the movie interesting, at the very least. Worth a look.
Rated 17 Sep 2007
50
22nd
decent
Rated 15 Oct 2007
65
35th
There's nothing special about the movie per se, but Christian Bale's acting is outstanding, you really get to fear him.
Rated 26 Oct 2007
35
10th
+ not worth your time :: well-executed, but worse than a car wreck: I couldn't stop watching...and then I wanted to UN-WATCH it. people like these shouldn't exist in the real world.
Rated 06 Feb 2008
60
20th
It takes a while to get around to the point of the story, and I didn't feel like there was enough of a build to the character's violent, off-the-deep-end psychopathic tendencies in the last act (it's more like a leap). As noted elsewhere, though, Bale really does well here.
Rated 15 Feb 2008
25
1st
Watching Christian Bale and Freddie Rodriguez (who is more white than mexican) use words like "dawg" is torture. It sounded rather scripted the entire time. Terrible. Just terrible.
Rated 12 Aug 2008
62
65th
okay movie
Rated 23 Dec 2008
75
71st
The highlight of the film is Christian Bale, moreover, for this role, he was invited to Batman Begins. He really deserved it, because its performance is great. His character is very interesting, violent and insane, the film actually is not so good, but what is worth watching, is that character and performance of Bale.
Rated 08 Mar 2009
79
81st
lol batman
Rated 16 Apr 2009
50
24th
Entertaining to a moderate degree; too unsubtle and 'commonplace' to be of any particular interest.
Rated 04 May 2009
0
1st
This is a mess.
Rated 20 May 2009
50
15th
Pretty generic, pretty boring. Not even Christian Bale's pretty face can save this one.
Rated 06 Jul 2009
89
66th
underrated! see this movie!
Rated 23 Jul 2009
66
46th
Bale as the former military man struggling to adapt in society, and inevitably brings his best friend with him in the downfall.
Rated 11 Sep 2009
64
37th
Bale at his most glowery but it doesn't feel substantial enough. The Training Day comparisions loom large over it
Rated 31 Oct 2010
20
41st
"The only thing holding together the loopily overwrought Harsh Times is its unintentional humor." - Nick Schager
Rated 18 Nov 2010
40
30th
not being american and against some fucking stupid war they have fucking running i dont give a fucking fuck about fucking PTSD, bales performance was outstanding again, FUCK the rest
Rated 30 Nov 2010
72
31st
Bale playing an unlikeable character. Competent as usual. Damaged people.
Rated 15 Dec 2010
62
15th
Tonally shifty, occasionally languid drama has a very convincing lead performance, as Bale plays a mental case with ease.
Rated 10 Jan 2011
67
35th
Decent.
Rated 11 Feb 2011
50
24th
Maybe will watch again, from memory it was fairly disappointing.
Rated 25 Jun 2011
38
38th
Average. First off, Christian Bale is absolutely great in this film. Unfortunately the director couldn't keep up. Couple that with a week script and you have a stinker even Mr Bale couldn't salvage. They were going for another Training Day gritty LA crime drama, instead they ended up with a confused muddled little flick that didn't know what it wanted to be when it grew up. Not Recommended.
Rated 29 Nov 2011
50
14th
mostly deprresing
Rated 11 Apr 2012
40
31st
Harsh Times is a film that took an interesting idea, but didn't do anything with it until the film was close to its conclusion. There was nothing to hold my attention for most of its runtime, and instead, I was searching for something more interesting to do with my time. Like maybe hop down to L.A. and drive around while drunk, robbing people and even shooting some of them. Harsh Times has taught me that this is acceptable behavior down there. Let's hope it's not right.
Rated 13 Jul 2012
70
58th
Great soundtrack.
Rated 20 Jul 2012
40
7th
So, who thought it was a good idea to take what should have been 10-15 minutes of the film and stretch it to take up most of the running time. I get it, he has PTSD. But show us that in an interesting way, and in the middle of the movie, at least, not 10 minutes from the end.
Rated 18 Oct 2012
50
47th
Another one of those that just seems like a load of half-finished sub-plots thrown together (every time you think it's finally gonna sink it's teeth into a story strand it whips it away and starts again), Harsh Times will be forgotten very quickly. Bale is Bale: okay but miscast here; Rodriguez fits his role more fittingly but still suffers from the effects of the 'authentic' (= annoying) dialogue. What story is this film supposed to be telling? What is it trying to say? What is the point?
Rated 08 Apr 2013
71
53rd
Enjoyable film with some good, powerful acting. Has a cool atmosphere, but in the end it is a bit unclear to me what the point of the film/story was, other than to entertain.
Rated 26 Dec 2013
84
59th
An adequately titled film, Christian Bale is rugged and tough in this film that accurately depicts the streets of South Central Los Angeles. Bale is a phenomenal performer, and this film allows him to explore some very deep themes.
Rated 28 Feb 2014
2
46th
In a land of Scorsese pretentions the dogs of war come home to roost but, it's only worth 2 in the bush.
Rated 19 Oct 2015
78
53rd
In the grimdark present there is only war.There is no peace amongst the homies, only an eternity of treachery, drunk driving and faking interview callbacks.
Rated 13 Nov 2015
6
45th
usel titel. ocharmigt arsle åker runt och terroriserar och letar jobb. fängslande.
Rated 22 Aug 2016
93
67th
1-2
Rated 27 Dec 2016
88
77th
Christian Bale is nothing short of miraculous. Solid, solid movie.
Rated 06 Jan 2018
20
4th
Unintentionally funny as hell
Rated 20 Aug 2018
76
8th
avoidable movie
Rated 23 Jun 2023
70
37th
A kind of fascinating, Schraderian portrait of a slow descent (or continuation) into ugly madness lacks the substance and insight that might have made this more successful - Bale comes to this completely committed and ready to play, delivering one of his most searing and painful performances (in a catalog full of them), it's just a shame that the screenplay doesn't quite give him enough meat to sink his teeth into. Cast to perfection, with Rodriguez especially given a rare chance to shine.

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