Movie Review: American Psycho

Starring:
Christian Bale, Reese Witherspoon, Jared Leto, Josh Lucas, Samantha Mathis, Bill Sage, Willem Defoe, Matt Ross

Director:
Mary Harron (I Shot Andy Warhol)

MPAA Rating:
R for strong violence, sexuality, drug use and language.

Release Date:
April 2000

Synopsis:
With a chiseled chin and an iron physique, Patrick Bateman's looks make him the ideal yuppie, and the ideal serial killer. Bateman takes pathological pride in everything from his business card to his music CD collection, all the while plotting his next victim's demise.

My Two Cents:
Christian Bale plays the role of Patrick Bateman, a self-absorbed, narcissistic, status-obsessed yuppie with homicidal tendencies. He’s 27, unmarried, takes care of his skin, is incredibly fit and well-groomed, is liked by the ladies and has a shitload of money, but none of this satisfies him more than killing people. He has been killing bums and hookers at night, but slowly loses control over his desire and gets careless, killing more and more people and not even covering up the evidence properly. He has no self-preservation instinct anymore and maybe even wants to be caught. When he kills one of his co-workers out of sheer envy he gets Detective Donald Kimball (Willem Defoe) on his tail, who suspects him of the murder. All of Bateman’s “friends” are as self-absorbed as he is and don’t even realize he is criminally insane.

Patrick Bateman is one sick fuck, but Christian Bale’s performance is so good I kind of wanted to see how far he could go on his killing spree before getting caught. He does odd things like send his bloody sheets to the laundry and even drags a bloody duffel bag with a corpse inside in front of his condo’s security guard and other people, and they don’t seem to notice. It’s like people don’t see what he’s doing, or perhaps he isn’t really killing anybody and it’s all in his imagination. It’s never really clear if he’s indeed murdering people or not. At one point an ATM machine tells him to insert a cat instead of his card, and he also blows up a police car with a single gunshot. When this happens he seems really surprised like he doesn’t truly know if it happened or not. Regardless, it isn’t the real point of the movie.



I found myself laughing quite a few times, not what I expected from a movie about a serial killer. Not that there aren’t horrible scenes of violence, but even those scenes are not as graphic as your regular horror film. It’s all handled in an artistic way by director Mary Harron. The sex scenes are a bit more graphic, but this isn’t porn or anything.

You could say the movie’s message is that people and societies with a superiority complex want to destroy anyone who’s inferior, and in Patrick Bateman’s case it literally means to kill them. Any movie that makes you want to discuss it with others is worth watching, and I’ll be talking about American Psycho for a while.

Score:

Movie Review: Rescue Dawn

Starring:
Christian Bale, Steve Zahn, Jeremy Davies, Zach Grenier, Toby Huss, Abhijati Jusakul, Teerawat Mulvilai

Director:
Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man)

MPAA Rating:
PG-13 for some sequences of intense war violence and torture.

Release Date:
July 2007

Synopsis:
Based on the true story of Dieter Dengler, a German-American fighter pilot and highly decorated Vietnam veteran whose reconnaissance plane was shot down in 1966. Captured by enemy forces and held in a Laotian torture camp near the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Dengler defied death by organizing one of the most daring escapes in the Vietnam conflict.

My Two Cents:
During the early stages of the Vietnam War, U.S. Navy pilot Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale) was sent on a top-secret mission over Laos, but was shot down and taken hostage, tortured and then transported to a POW camp with other American pilots. Some of these prisoners had been held there for over two years. Dieter has no plans to stay that long and intends to escape, but Duane Martin (Steve Zahn) tells him that without water or food he won’t survive long in the jungle, and the rainy season won’t start for about six months. Dieter has no choice but to wait, but in the mean time he makes preparations and a detailed plan to escape.

Dieter convinces the other prisoners to work together as a team in order to escape, but they’re weak, demoralized and going crazy out of starvation and despair. When the day of escape finally comes, only Duane follows Dieter’s plan, but all the prisoners manage to escape. Everyone takes different routes through the jungle, but Duane and Dieter stick together. The two spend days searching for the Mekong River, trying to reach Thailand, but they are too tired and can only hope to be seen and rescued by one of the U.S. helicopters or planes that occasionally fly by.

Christian Bale once again gives an outstanding performance, but I was even more impressed by Steve Zahn. You really care for the characters and want them all to escape and eat a goddamn sandwich or something. Bale and Zahn lost a lot of weight for their roles, but Jeremy Davies, who played Gene DeBruin, literally looks like a skeleton. They have somehow survived years eating a few grains of rice and maggot-filled meat.



The men and women who keep them prisoners treat them like animals, actually, worse. Even though you hate their captors, you can’t really expect them to treat them any better. These U.S. soldiers came into their country to kill them. Imagine if strangers got into your house to kill you and your family and you managed to capture a bunch of them. What would you do to them?

War is hell, and Rescue Dawn makes me want to stay as far away as possible from it. You really feel these soldier’s pain, fear, hunger, and despair. The excellent acting only makes this true story more real, as if you were actually there. If you like war dramas and don’t mind shedding a tear or two, I strongly recommend watching Rescue Dawn.

Score:

Batman's New Suit for The Dark Knight

It's beginning to look like Christmas, because more cool images of The Dark Knight are showing up on the Internet. Three days ago I posted some new Joker photos and now here's one of Christian Bale in his new Batman costume, and another one of The Joker just for fun. Batman's suit looks cool, but reminds me of the Batman & Robin ones and that is not a good thing. At least there are no bat nipples.