Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this movie isn't for kids in any way, shape, or form. Full of bloody violence, drug use, lawlessness, and physical abuse, it follows the experiences of a traumatized Afghanistan war veteran and draws connections between what happened to him during combat and his behavior back home in Los Angeles. Weapons include guns of all kind, knives, and grenades; the brutal violence results in gaping wounds and lots of blood. Characters smoke cigarettes and do drugs (meth, coke, pot), and men treat women badly (lying to them as well as taunting and abusing them). Language is incessant -- there are at least 200 uses of "f--k," plus assorted other profanity.
Families can talk about the connections between Jim's combat experience and his frustrations back home. How are they linked? How does his behavior reflect what happened to him overseas? While he's admired by his friends for his "macho" behavior, how does the movie also show that he's troubled? What does Marta represent for Jim? How would you compare the romances between Jim and Marta and Mike and Sylvia? Which of the characters represent security, and which represent chaos?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Cynthia Fuchs
As its title suggests, HARSH TIMES is a dark, rough movie. Focused on a few delirious days in the life of Gulf War veteran Jim Davis (Christian Bale), it makes the case that his combat experience is of a piece with his life as a young man in urban Los Angeles. Encouraged at every turn to be aggressive and audacious, ex-Army Ranger Jim is also desperately unhappy, yearning for a bit of quiet.
At first, it seems like he'll find this peace with Marta (Tammy Trull), a young woman who lives just over the border in Mexico. But Jim's nightmares follow him wherever he goes, and, worse, his friends admire his increasingly outrageous behavior. Jim is a product of the low-income, hopeless, and mostly generic "'hood," and he's absorbed its low expectations and cruelty. Over a couple of days, Jim and his best friend Mike (Freddy Rodriguez) essentially look for trouble -- under the guise of looking for work.
Though Mike tells his wife Sylvia (Eva Longoria) that he's passing out his resume, he and Jim are actually out carousing, harassing Jim's ex, and robbing her new boyfriend at gunpoint. When Jim gets a call from the Department of Homeland Security inviting him for the job interview he's been hoping for, he's first ecstatic, then worried when he realizes he has to pass a drug test (he's been high for days).
As bad as Jim and Mike might wanna be, the film insists that their ugliness and mischief are small-time compared to the havoc wreaked by socially approved bodies, from the cops to corporations to the government. Inside these hallowed institutions, Harsh Times shows, men swagger and commit crimes under the color of law and the approval of their fellows.
When his potential new boss (J.K. Simmons) sees Jim's tendency to bully and intimidate his fellow recruits (as well as cheat on the lie detector test), he thinks he's found the perfect macho man agent, ruthless and unafraid to hurt others. Jim calls himself a "soldier of the apocalypse," and that makes him perfect for routing out criminals in Colombia.
The film thus sets up all Jim's confrontations and options in racially marked terms -- Marta, Mike, the "homeboys," and the new job all set him off as lonely, white, and hypermasculine, still feeling bereft and still looking for acceptance. While it doesn't fully pursue the point, Harsh Times at least raises the specter of racism and sexism in the culture that made a man like Jim.
Those who like this movie might also enjoy Training Day, a very similar movie written by Harsh Times director David Ayers, as well as other movies about troubled war veterans, such as The Jacket and Taxi Driver.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentSexual language and jokes ("p---y," "slut"); embraces and kisses; camera ogles women's derrieres to mimic men's perspectives. |
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ViolenceMovie begins during combat in the Gulf War (explosions/grenades, shooting, dead bodies, blood); Jim and Mike roam L.A. streets with guns, knives, and brutal attitudes; weapons include guns, knives, fists; one man's throat is cut, another is shot through the face; results of several assaults are very bloody. |
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LanguageFrequent use of "f--k" (200+ instances), plus other language ("s--t," "ass," "bitch," "faggot"). |
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Social BehaviorOutlaws (gang bangers and protagonists) and authorities (including CIA recruiters and cops) are corrupt, aggressive, and foul-mouthed. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoFrequent cigarette smoking, drug use, and drinking to drunkenness; Jim cheats on his drug test to be hired by the CIA. |
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