Action

Harsh Times

ActionCrimeDrama

A tough-minded drama about two friends in South Central Los Angeles and the violence that comes between them.

Year

2006

Duration

1h 56m

IMDb

6.8

Trailer

Cast

David Ayer

Director

Christian Bale

Jim Luther Davis

Freddy Rodríguez

Mike Alonzo

Eva Longoria

Sylvia

Chaka Forman

Toussant

Tammy Trull

Marta

J.K. Simmons

Agent Richards

Michael Monks

Agent Hollenbeck

Samantha Esteban

Letty

Tania Verafield

Patty

Noel Gugliemi

Flaco

Adriana Millan

Rita

Geo Corvera

Wilo

Cesar Garcia

Listo

Terry Crews

Darrell

Emilio Rivera

Eddy

Sonia Iris Lozada

Gracie

Paul Renteria

Ranchero

BM

Blue Mesquita

Leo

David Ayer

Writer

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Comments

10 comments

Fabuluz🇨🇬🇨🇩Nov 24, 2025

🔥BIPIN SUBEDI🔥🇳🇵Nov 24, 2025

hano__tr97Nov 24, 2025

Hamade_oAug 22, 2024

After I had watched Harsh Times and found it to be one of the worst films I'd seen in ages, I thumbed back through my collection of film mags - that normally have a decent hold on what's decent and what's not - expecting it to be slated in the review. I couldn't believe what I was reading '...is Bale the new Deniro?' '...Bales performance akin to Deniro in Taxi Driver'. Erm what?...What? I rented this film on the grounds that Christian Bale normally makes good role choices. As I watched it I became increasingly embarrassed for him as he spilled the stinking homie dialogue from his mouth. "yeah daaawg" "yo homes"...I wanted everybody in this film to either shut up or die. The dialogue throughout is so bad it made me want to run full belt into a bus. I was also surprised that so many people rated it highly on this site "Christian Bale's performance is as mesmerising as De Niro's Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver" some mug wrote. 7.1 is a high mark for a film that almost made my dog go bald. I know it's about different opinions and tastes but come on people...

SARZAug 22, 2024

Well, I've just seen Harsh Times with a friend and we were both so disappointed. Christian Bale is a brilliant actor but what an earth was he thinking playing this role. Admittedly his acting is excellent as is Freddy Rodriguez, but there is no story. Nothing happens until about an hour and 15 minutes in to the film. I've read a few reviews that compare this film to Training Day which is a complete insult as Training Day is a brilliant (Oscar Winning) film with amazing performances and most importantly...a good plot line. It's such a shame that the 3 lead actors (Eva Longoria also stars) chose to star in such a dull film. Another opinion that I read is that it is edge of your seat thrilling, but there is nothing in it that makes it tense or interesting. When a film actually makes you want people to start killing each other so as to have something of interest to watch, it shows how bad it really is! The highlight of the film is a very funny line of "I see dumb people"!! Very amusing...

Kwasi Wired🇬🇭Aug 22, 2024

Harsh Times tell the story of Jim (Bale) an ex marine who fought in the gulf war and is having a hard time finding a job as a cop and likes to hang around with his buddies, drink and drive, and do drugs stupid right. Apparently he is planning to get married to this sweet Mexican girl but he is out having fun and getting in to trouble like a 13 year old, I just don't get the story. Harsh Times yes it was quite harsh to see this movie. First of all, I can't believe that people compare this movie with Training Day and Taxi Driver. Second, Bale's ghetto wannabe acting was ridiculous and not-believable, not to mention his Spanish was terrible. Third, this movie had no story and no plot. Bottom line this is a really bad movie that I don't think Bale read the script before being part of it. Its plain terrible, I am going to discard this movie from my mind and only think of Bale's good movies like Empire of the Sun, Equilibrium, The Machinist, Batman Begins, and The Prestige etc. Harsh Times never happened.

King Elijah SaAug 22, 2024

Bale's performance in Harsh time is phenomenal this besides the machinist and American psycho have to be some of my favourite performances by him. The Chemistry between Freddie and Bale is great it seems like they've been "homies" for years very tight friendship so you know how tight they are immediately and it makes you care for them. Bale's character is a former soldier and he has major issues just imagine a soldier coming back for Vietnam with flash backs and such ...pretty much they are never the same mentally again...that is bales character right there it's much more deeper maybe someone will explain it better then me Freddie's character is the guy who is a ride or die friend he'll stick with you to end but he's also a follower and get's influenced very easily by bale's character in the movie...I view it as Bale is like an older brother to him Eva Longoria is freddie's girlfriend and she loves him to death because pirior Freddie stuck by here and help her out during university or college i can't remember..All she wants now is for Freddie to get a Job but Bale's influence always divides freddies focus on handing out his applications..She doesn't like Bale's character basically thinks he's going to get freddie killed just imagine being with your friend throwing around a lot of cuss words but when your talking to someone at a business place you talk proper and not urban slang.. I'd say it's a violent movie i mean there is some brutal scenes that will feed your violence fix.... all in all this movie is pretty damn realistic

kenz_official1Aug 22, 2024

Alright so I've seen Training Day, which was a fantastic movie. I saw the previews for this, and was intrigued to go to the theater and check it out. I didn't, and boy am I glad. This movie had so much potential to be a great film, and turned out to be a total joke. Lets start off with the acting. I enjoyed Bale in American Psycho, but his acting in this was so unconvincing. The dialog between Bale and Rodriguez was so phony, so forced to throw in extra 'street' slang. Basically the impression I got from these two speaking was amateur. Bale is talking like he is some straight up 'G'. I suppose I cannot blame the actors completely for a weakly written script. The plot was a joke! It went nowhere. So Bale was a soldier and then is in Mexico with this girl he wants to marry in the US. Then he hooks up with Rodriguez who is an 'alcoholic bum' who needs to find a job, and they cruise around drinking and getting high. Sorry we saw the whole bad ass drinking/smoking/bullying while cruising South LA in Training Day before. Then the movie does a 360 and just loses me, goes nowhere. What a waste of two hours. How did someone approve this script? Horrible. If u really want to watch it for yourself go ahead. Don't say I didn't warn you. PS: Training Day 9/10 - Harsh Times 1/10

Jemima OsundeAug 22, 2024

I'm so offended by the awfulness of this movie that I don't even want to expend the energy necessary to tell you in detail how bad it was, such is my absolute hatred for this movie - BUT, it is my duty as a movie lover and as a human being to do my best to prevent you from having to watch this complete dog turd. You will thank me and be pleased that you are not now doing what I am doing: trying to think of a way to strike myself across the head in such a way that I will forget I ever saw this thing. Though, I may not really wish to do that on the off chance I succeed, happen upon the title once again and decide it might be interesting. It was not interesting. It was terrible. I feel like weeping. Better still, I feel like kicking David Ayer in the groin. In short, the flick is about some losers being losers in the most non-interesting and non-compelling way possible, and in the end you wish more people had died, especially Ayer. Suckfest 2006. Worst movie I've seen in years, and I've seen a LOT of movies. Christian Bale plays the part of a white guy who wishes he was a street-savvy Mexican gangsta. Apparently, he's ex military, and apparently, this is supposed to have had some impact on his present personality. He is as convincing in this role (both as an ex-mil and as a Mexican) as Vanilla Ice is convincing as a hardcore rapper. Random extras acted better in this movie. I believe there was a Coke machine in the distance that seemed more Mexican/street than Christian Bale. I have begun to wonder if Bale can act without Christopher Nolan, or if it was simply the fault of Ayer, who in all honesty really should be arrested for terroristic activities. I can't think of another description for this flick than 'nuclear bomb'. Don't see it, or if you do, don't say I didn't warn you.

STHEMBISO KHOZAAug 22, 2024

Let me preface this by saying that I am definitely a fan of Bale's previous work- particularly American Psycho, and I thought training day was awesome. I also live in LA if that means anything. I'm aware of the fact that trailers are often deceiving, but judging from this movie's trailer- I truly believed that the film showed promise. Knowing this, you may be asking yourself, "how is it possible for a motion picture to contain so much suck in only 2 hrs?" I honestly don't know how it's possible but, they were able to do it. There's not just one thing that makes this movie unbearable- so let me highlight a few of elements that did so. First of all this movie should have been titled something slightly more relevant, e.g.: "stupid people looking for a job in LA", or maybe the less wordy, "jobhunt". Was I the only one who thought from the trailer that Bale was actually going to become a cop? Secondly, the most common misconception in criticism I'm hearing is that the acting is bad, but the fact of the matter is that all of the actors did a bar-none job of portraying stupid, unlikable people. I don't consider myself a saint, but I could not relate to, or even feel sympathy for any of the characters. These are the kind of people who make the world a sh*tty place to live in: corrupt, lazy, lying, drinking-while-driving, gun-toting, dope-smoking, misogynistic, anti-intellectual, selfish, ignorant pieces of sh*t. These people corrupt the military, the police force, school-systems, essentially everything they touch, and yet I felt that these characters were being glorified throughout the whole film, except for towards the end when Bale goes nuts; however it is at this point that I felt Rodriguez stepped-up to being the hero. The thing that bugs me the most is that Rodriguez's character was able to run home after literally murdering his best-friend in the face, make-out with Eva Longoria, and pretend like everything was going to end up fine. I'm sorry- while I don't doubt the rejuvenating qualities of swapping spit with Ms. Longoria, I think its effect was slightly exaggerated, because I don't really think that it could eliminate the horror of killing your best friend. Most disturbing to me is the fact that people not only enjoyed this movie, they loved it! People are already screaming Oscar-worthy, when the truth of the matter is that at best this movie should have gone straight to DVD, and I'm being generous. In all honesty, this movie should never have seen the light of day. I highly regret not walking out of the film, as did two of my friends who went to the movie with me. Of higher priority than 8 dollars, is time, and if you value either I urge you to avoid this movie at all costs.