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Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Harsh Times is almost a good, salty urban thriller. Read more
David Germain, Associated Press: Unpleasantly grim and often nasty just to be nasty, writer-director David Ayer's Harsh Times is more an ordeal than a movie. Read more
Rex Reed, New York Observer: Harsh Times is an hour-by-hour diary of two crazy, unreliable, irresponsible dudes trying to find a way to fit into the same society they hate, facing one hurdle after another until they appear to butcher half of Los Angeles. Read more
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: [A] sour but haunting tale. Read more
John Hartl, Seattle Times: Ayer makes his directing debut with Harsh Times, which is so relentlessly grim that it occasionally goes over the top and invites derision. Read more
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: Jim is such a psycho and Mike is such a patsy, we don't care about these guys. We've seen dozens of more interesting head cases in dozens of smarter films. Read more
Steve Murray, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The film is basically a two-hour countdown to a predictable explosion. You may enjoy the ride, but you won't remember a whole lot about it farther down the road. Read more
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: ...If the movie is a comment on the dire straits of our returning soldiers, it's unconvincing. Read more
Michael Ordona, Los Angeles Times: The slang, the modes of dress, even the styles of fighting all have a high degree of specificity that lifts the movie above most urban crime dramas. Read more
Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: It's an ugly, brutal picture, and it's not about 'times' but rather timeless macho posturing run amok. Read more
Tom Long, Detroit News: ...The movie consists of waiting for what you know is going to come. Waiting some more. And then waiting some more. Read more
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Bale is mesmerizing and Rodriguez keeps up with him as the whole unsafe contraption zooms. Read more
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: ...As well-written and acted as Harsh Times may be, you will be relieved when the adrenaline returns to an acceptable level. Read more
Peter Debruge, Miami Herald: Ayer romanticizes a certain type of true-grit persona and relies on actors tough enough to pull it off. Read more
Gene Seymour, Newsday: [A] messy, exasperating, but fascinating excursion through the darker corners of neighborhoods at risk -- and of one man's mind. Read more
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It's true that we don't need to like characters for a movie to work. We should, however, at least find them interesting. Read more
Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Though Bale has the presence of a young De Niro, and the same volatile edge, he's being asked here to fill out a role that doesn't ring true on any level. Read more
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Endless scenes of the two guys riding along, venting and cursing and chugging beers play like acting-class exercises, badly written ones at that. Read more
James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Few individuals who go off to war and experience its devastation and chaos return as the same person. This factor lies at the heart of what Harsh Times illustrates. Read more
Robert Denerstein, Denver Rocky Mountain News: ...For all its hyped-up acting moments, Harsh Times fails to get under our skin. Read more
Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: For a neophyte director, Ayer displays a lot of style. Read more
Bill Zwecker, Chicago Sun-Times: This is a powerful film that combines a number of 'what if' situations with some true tragic moments and even a number of oddly funny situations. Read more
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Harsh Times opens with a deadly nightmare and ends with a vast bloodbath - in between, things get a little gruesome. Read more
Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Harsh Times is so into its own nihilism, it sometimes forgets the humanity beneath the hurt. Read more
Time Out: [Screenwriter David Ayer] goes for the jugular at all times -- once, quite literally -- and the grainy, handheld camerawork adds to the scuzzy authenticity. Read more
Todd McCarthy, Variety: When your model is clearly Taxi Driver, a lack of directorial flair is especially conspicuous. Read more
Jim Ridley, Village Voice: [Bale's performance is] the kind of vein-popping show-boating that might as well be performed in a mirror. Read more
Desson Thomson, Washington Post: 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 more