It was Wednesday evening. I’ve been waiting for that moment for a long time. I was holding in my hands the printed copy of my dissertation. At last, I was free. What a better way to celebrate my newly acquired and very much needed care-freeness than treating myself to the gorgeousness of Christian Bale? His new film had just come out (although it is a 2005 production) and posters had started to appear in tube stations-posters that gave me the impression that Harsh Times is a Jean-Claude Van Dam-type movie. So, I was prepared to go to a bad film, I had set aside my objections and I was determined to enjoy two hours of Christian Bale. Still, the cinephile inside me was giving me a hard time.  You see, I try to give my money to good movies, with a preference to independent or foreign films that I know they have a hard time finding funding and promoting themselves. So, I rarely go to blockbusters-I will watch them on dvd. After giving 10 pounds (student ticket!!!) in a Leicester Sq. cinema to watch X-Men III, I swore I would never do that again. Especially when there are cinemas like Prince Charles, where for 1 pound I saw the absolutely brilliant The Squid and the Whale . It’s a bit of a ‘Support Art films instead entertainment ones’ attitude.
Still, there are moments that you crave a film that goes with candy, pop corn and cherry coke(personal preference). There is nothing wrong with it. Therefore, here I was, in the right frame of mind for just having fun but at the wrong movie for it. Because, my dear readers, Harsh Times is not what I thought. Misleading poster, not very good descriptions plus me being prejudiced against the Training Day scriptwriter David Ayer, who was the director in this film, contributed to my surprise as the film went on. ‘Damn, this is a good film!’ I found myself thinking. And Christian Bale had the opportunity to shine once more. Because he is a brilliant actor anyway. Personally, I could watch him read the phonebook and still be amazed.
This experience made me think about my relationship with actors. I am very committed to my favourite actors, I can be drawn into endless discussions and debates about them and I generally support them passionately against accusations. While I was still falsely thinking that Harsh Times is a bad movie, I remembered a Christian Bale Interview where he had said that before The Machinist came up, he ’was sitting in a coach for hours, staring at the wall, depressed for my choices’- so I was thinking: then why did you do this film? But I was glad to be wrong and see that he went on choosing good films; I promise I won’t doubt him again. But please, in the future, do something about the posters and the trailer, ok?