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The idea behind Harsh Times is that ex-soldier Jim Davis (Christian Bale) is supposed to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, which drives him to drink, drugs and violence. There's a particular moment in the film when the character receives his letter of rejection from the LAPD and completely flips on a nosing bystander, leaving the audience anticipating his next crazy move.

From thereon, I was expecting Harsh Times to be a film of profound psychological insight; I wanted to know more about the background of Jim's warfare days. Unfortunately, there was very little of this, with the script preferring to go in the direction of the character getting high and drunk, purely for the sake of it. I never once believed that Jim was actually haunted by his experiences of killing terrorists; he was just a typical male arsehole choosing to cruise around his own neighbourhood on the lookout for trouble, accompanied by his homie Mike (Freddy Rodríguez).

Now, I have no problem with random acts of violence if it entertains -- and I'm pleased to say that Harsh Times does so in that aspect. But why market a movie as if contained some deeply disturbing psychological message? Everyone is already aware of war being bad, and the film never really strives to go beyond this obvious simplicity. Most of the time Harsh Times feels like a complete mess of absurdity and violence, inconsistent in its character development, and completely lacking in its direction.

Christian Bale, I must say, is quite impressive in his role, despite things generally being unbalanced in the movie. He makes the best of a jaded script, and has his moments as the unstable Iraq War veteran, which made me believe this is some of the most impressive work that I've seen from him. Rodriguez also plays his part with strong conviction; as does the supporting cast, consisting of Tammy Trull and Eva Longoria.

Director David Ayer fails to live up to the hype surrounding his name after producing the excellent Training Day, but Harsh Times does at least deserve some attention for Bale and Rodriguez's character menace. Just don't expect it to be an in-depth psychological study of a soldier who has experienced the realities of war -- because it isn't.

(C) Andy Carrington, 2009.