Hey folks, Harry here... This is a good news story. Seems that David Ayer has turned in a pretty damn good directorial debut. That's good news why? Well first, it means we have a good film in our future. Second, he's the guy remaking THE WILD BUNCH... Now I know, that's just plum the wrongest thing this side of shooting a friend with a shotgun, but ya know what... sometimes when you're being a drunk redneck, shit like that happens. I've heard that THE WILD BUNCH isn't a straight remake, but an adaptation... which is slightly more tolerable. I do know that Ayer's original script for S.W.A.T. (not the film you guys got to see) was pretty tremendous. And with a film as good as this sounds on the horizon... let's see for ourselves...

Hey Harry, first time poster here. Just wanted to post up a review of David Ayers new movie, Harsh Times which got I believe it's European Premiere Saturday night in Dublin. I'm doing work experience so my reviews on the official website too but I figured your visitors would only come across it this way.

I'm a huge Christian Bale fan and the guy owns the screen in this movie, I haven't heard press coverage or seen any trailers for this movie and I can't for the life of me understand, this movie deserves a wide distribution and lots of coverage. To all the Ayer haters at AICN, okay SWAT was terrible and Wild Bunch most likely will be too BUT I'm gonna give the guy some credit because this movie rocked my socks. Anyone who was looking for a grittier, more violent version of Training Day, this is it. Anyways here's my review, call me Speedboatchase if you decide to use it:

Training Day writer David Ayer simply excels in his directorial debut "Harsh Times", a hard-hitting portrayal of two friends on the edge trying to make ends meet in South Central LA, even if it means resorting to petty crime and violent encounters.

Over the course of three days the story travels from LA to Mexico to a devastating conclusion between the two male leads, Christian Bale and Freddy Rodriguez. Bale outshines his fellow actors as Jim, a Gulf war veteran, who despite putting on a civilised front tries to marry his across the border Mexican girlfriend (Eva Longoria, in non-suckage performance shocker). However deep down Jim is unsatisfied in life and his combat experience has given him a bloodlust that seemingly can only be satisfied through random, inconsequential acts of violence.

The story takes us over the course of three days that begin with our protagonist taking best friend Mike (Rodriguez) to hand out resumes to please his long-suffering girlfriend. When Bale loses out on his dream job he entices the well-intentioned Freddy to follow him on a ballistic rampage of stealing, drug taking and deceit. Similar to Ayer's Training Day script, over the course of the movie we see Bale's charismatic and borderline psychotic character lead the malleable Rodriguez astray, with powerful ramifications.

This is a great movie. Similar to Training Day in its locales and overall depiction of Los Angeles, (the mixture of races, threatening neighbourhoods) what keeps this movie on its toes is similar to that of Crone bergs "History Of Violence", it is the overall undercurrent and inescapable prospect of violence that sets the tone. Rodriguez and Bale both deliver sensational performances. There's something about Rodriguez' portrayal of Mike that is just so natural and real. The friendship between him and Bale feels genuine and allows the viewer to become emotionally invested in the characters, even when they are being downright thuggish.

Although not a household name, this movie deserves to put the young Six Feet Under star on the map. While I was at first thrown off by Bales ghetto-speak ("hey dawg etc." I kept thinking, hey Bruce Wayne doesn't say that!) his performance really is the best thing about the film. Just watching the two of them ditch a productive day (handing out resumes for unemployed Mike) to get wasted is a lot of fun to watch but as the movie progresses we start to feel less affection for Bales character as he seems to start falling over the edge to increasingly unhinged behaviour. It's not the first time Bale has portrayed a mentally unstable individual but he does it so well it's almost impossible not to be compelled by his every move during this film.

The only fault I have with this movie is that unlike Training Day, this movie doesn't have a proper structure to it, basically Bale and Freddy have a series of misadventures over the course of a few days and then an earlier plot point resurfaces to bring the movie to a close. It's very hard to describe the plot to a friend as so many incidents occur with no strong narrative to move the story forward. Not to fault Ayers work as there is some sharp dialogue but the overall plot seems at times meandering, sometimes a scene may start and you think "well where's the story going to go now?". His direction however is exceptional, particularly from a first time director and there are some great shots of the Mexican countryside when Bale visits his girlfriend.

It must also be noted that for such a dark, gritty picture there is an abundance of welcome and effective humour that manages to relieve the quieter moments in the script. Overall this is a tough portrayal of friendship between two guys who have nothing to lose and who see no consequences to resorting to deceitful, barrel-scraping behaviour just to make it through another day, yet through Ayer's realistic and sharp script you almost feel like cheering them on for their deeds. I really enjoyed this movie and can't wait for it's theatrical release, the performances of the two male leads overshadow any nagging misgivings entirely.

Thanks Harry!