I didn't realize this until today but Harsh Times, an excellent movie with Christian Bale, is basically the exact opposite of True Detective in the sense that it characteristically shows you the lives of the men outside the police who are living in an urban environment and the effects it has on them, while True Detective shows you the lives of detectives in a real-world setting who are forever haunted by their work. There's no spaghetti monster at the end of Harsh Times, but it does show you the cost of war and the mental effect it has upon some men, such as Bale's character in the film, who are negatively altered because of it. This is played out brilliantly by Bale, as this film is riddled with some of the man's best acting quotes (the film's most popular scene, the car rant, is worth watching the whole film for, but there are so many more compelling scenes that add to it as well), and Freddy Rodriguez plays his friend who slowly begins to see how much the war has changed his best friend for the worst as they move forward into the final act. The performances in this film are fantastic, but something that keeps me coming back and watching it is the attention to detail, South Central Los Angeles feels just as harsh here as it would in reality, and the top notch writing on display allows you to get clear, unfiltered looks into these characters' mentality. I'd love to see another film done in this style, so far True Detective's the closest thing I've found to being another Harsh Times (maybe season 2 or 3 could recruit Bale and Rodriguez as a reunion of sorts, I know I'd be watching in a heartbeat every Sunday).
This interview with Bale on the film is really great and describes exactly what I loved about it to a tee:
[YT]d6QxmNmZhek[/YT]
