Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
66
Bandslam
45
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
District 9
61
Extract
39
Fame
xx
Fantastic Mr. Fox
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
27
Gamer
41
G-Force
39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
My Sister's Keeper
42
Orphan
28
Pandorum
63
Perfect Getaway, A
86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
48
Proposal, The
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
Sorority Row
83
Star Trek![]()
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D![]()
35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
Ugly Truth, The
88
Up![]()
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
Adam
72
Adela
39
Adventures of Power
78
Afghan Star
61
After the Storm
66
Afterschool
xx
All the Best
58
American Casino
72
Amreeka
48
Antichrist
73
Araya
62
Art & Copy
55
As Seen Through These Eyes
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The![]()
13
Beautiful Life, A
70
Beeswax
35
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71
Big Fan
66
Black Dynamite
51
Blind Date
xx
Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76
Bliss
35
Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
Boys Are Back, The
45
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star![]()
70
Bronson
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
Casi Divas
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
59
Collapse
44
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82
Cove, The![]()
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The![]()
67
Departures
xx
Dil Bole Hadippa
71
Disgrace
xx
Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85
Education, An![]()
55
Endgame
xx
Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
52
Grace
66
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The![]()
xx
Heretics, The
63
Horse Boy, The
73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop![]()
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
Laila's Birthday
41
Little Ashes
41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
83
Maid, The![]()
xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
46
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking![]()
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
U2 3D![]()
66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Harsh Times

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 24 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 17 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Action | Crime | Drama
Written by: David Ayer
Directed by: David Ayer
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 10, 2006
DVD: March 13, 2007
Running Time: 120 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for strong violence, language and drug use
Starring Christian Bale, Freddy RodrÃguez, Tammy Trull, Adriana Millan, Eva Longoria, Terry Crews, and Noel Gugliemi
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)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
New York Post Kyle Smith
If Martin Scorsese were 30 and a Los Angeleno, he'd be making movies much like this one.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Bale is mesmerizing and Rodriguez keeps up with him as the whole unsafe contraption zooms.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Harsh Times occasionally echoes "Taxi Driver," Ayer's own "Training Day," and even "First Blood" in the way it examines the psychological disintegration of a character and the seduction of amorality.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Peter Debruge
Not since "To Live and Die in L.A" has there been such a raw, cynical vision of living and dying in L.A.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Bale brings intense energy (and a convincing American accent) to the proceedings, and the film manages to make this borderline Travis Bickle into a sympathetic character - with a sweetheart, and a sweeter life, beckoning from south of the border. Strong stuff.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
With his ersatz-gangsta swagger, the once-again buff Bale gives it his all -- he's got to be the most committed actor in Hollywood -- but the real surprise here is Rodriguez, who has all the talent and charisma of a major star.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
All along, you know something terrible is going to happen, and when it does, you leave the theater shaken and deeply moved.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Debuting as director, Ayer once again points his loose cannon directly into the body politic: the protagonist of this sour but haunting tale is a crazed army ranger just returned from overseas (Christian Bale) who's so full of war that even the LAPD won't hire him.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray
Ayer gets lost in a maze of ironies, and has to bulldoze his way to an exit. For a while, Harsh Times is thrillingly hard to predict. By the end, it becomes all too easy.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Harsh Times opens with a deadly nightmare and ends with a vast bloodbath -- in between, things get a little gruesome.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Harsh Times, is almost a good, salty urban thriller.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
A psychotic seizure of a performance by Christian Bale dominates Harsh Times, the directorial debut of David Ayer that channels "Taxi Driver."
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
Well-intentioned but not very well directed, it makes for a better psychological profile than a film.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
For most of its meandering running time Harsh Times is just a rough South Central L.A. buddy movie.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
The result is an angry, violent mess of a movie with a central character threatening to implode right on the screen.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
Give Harsh Times an "E" for effort, but not much else.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
Mr. Bales's spectacular technical performance of a toxic bad boy on the fast track to hell somehow lacks an inner core.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Michael Ordona
Harsh Times goes down like the vinegar its protagonist chugs to try to beat a drug test. It's carefully crafted, exasperating and ugly, a festival of self-destructiveness, in all ways a reflection of its lead as brought to careening, erupting, implosive life by Christian Bale.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck
The film's unrelenting bleakness and misanthropic tone is likely to be a turnoff to mainstream performances, but it provides its lead actor with another opportunity to display his riveting intensity.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Jim Ridley
Whatever political statement Ayer intended to make with his Gulf War veteran turned human time bomb is swamped by the movie's obnoxious badass envy, and Bale's gloating display of American-psycho fireworks, the kind of vein-popping show-boating that might as well be performed in a mirror.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
The film amounts to a harsh and perpetual assault on viewers' sensibilities -- not only because of its violence but because of its overall bleakness.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
The real problem with Harsh Times is Jim himself. Bale goes at the part with his usual intensity, but the character still seems like a psycho without psychology or a soul.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Harsh Times contains exactly 30 seconds of novelty.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.2 (out of 10) based on 17 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Kyle gave it a10:
Better than Training Day... Narc was a little better but Bale owned this film.
Simon Marts gave it a10:
Amazing. A modern day "Taxi Driver". It isn't about blood and guts, this movie follows one messed up dude who's kill switch is stuck in the on position and is going swirly on the downward spiral. You'll love this movie or hate it. I've recommended it to everyone and these are the only two reactions I've gotten.
Lee H. gave it a10:
More real than reality TV in depicting the results of war and modern society on young lower class urban men.
Andy gave it an8:
Superb acting, especially from Rodriguez, in what turns out to be a great potrayal of a play torn out of the pages of a Greek tragedy.
Simon B. gave it a0:
Gangster version of Dumb & Dumber. It's stupid from start to finish.
Andy S. gave it a9:
Superb movie! Great acting from Christian Bale. Surprising good accent!
Daniel A. gave it a9:
A superbly made film. Gripping, unquestionably acted and with sharp, realistic dialogue. It certainly deserves a far higher rating than the averages displayed here.
