American Psycho.

 I just finished watching American Psycho on HBO and I remembered just how absolutely ridiculous and brilliant this movie was.

The story is about a CEO named Patrick Bateman who's also a homicidal maniac.  He's obsessed with his image to every distinct detail, including his physique, his hair, his nails, and even his business cards.  He gets into all of the hot spots and is always seeking approval from his friends, so much so, that he goes out of his way to become other people in his group and make them look ridiculous.  This image he holds so dearly is a facade for the inner killer he has inside.  He dreams about killing, draws about it, and fantasizes about it, all while trying to suppress the urge to kill.

As the story progresses, he begins to lose control of the true person inside and starts going on a killing spree.  He picks up models, prostitutes, friends (mostly girls), and even kills one of the people he associates with.  While this is going on, his girlfriend is completely oblivious to the fact that she may get killed and a cop, who's on Patrick's trail, has no idea that he is sitting in front of the killer.

As he goes crazy, he starts to kill random strangers on the street, blows up two police cars, and goes back to his apartment where he calls his lawyer and confesses to the murders.  He leaves his lawyer a message and then the next day meets with his lawyer.  When he meets with his lawyer, Patrick almost attacks him because he tells Patrick that it was all joke and not to worry about it.  All of the bodies that he hid in a rented apartment mysteriously disappear and he continues on with his life as a CEO and homicidal maniac.

This movie was based on a book from one of my favorite authors, Bret Easton Ellis.  Ellis is known for writing extremely dark and twisted "white America" novels of the rich and glamorous.  I don't know much about his inspiration, but in my opinion, he is spotlighting the sick and perverted things that the rich engage in and get away with because of their money, power, and influence.  They are all a work of fiction, but speaking from a writer's perspective, everything that is fiction is somewhat inspired by real life (even the sci-fi!).  I know I said a lot about what goes on in the movie, but I find it fascinating because of the normalcy that goes on in the movie with the depraved in light living the life of a rich man with no qualms, no real problems, and no consequences.

This is an extreme case, but let's look at it with a real life perspective.  Those with the money do have complete control of the system because they can buy their way out.  Those "too big to fail" corporations of banks, food, real estate and any other god-damned company have this ability to get away with so much because of the money they made at one point and the power they have gained from paying people off.  Even though this film is about the 1980's, when it all began, it's still relevant even today because we are now seeing the equivalent of Patrick Bateman calling his lawyer and confessing to these hideous crimes, only to be bailed out by other powerful individuals and allow him to continue living his greedy, depraved, pathetic life consumed by taking. 

I don't now if that was a political statement or me babbling on.  But what I do remember clearly is in the movie Ronald Reagan is giving his speech on foreign affairs and the four guys are all calling his bullshit.  But that's just an observation.

On another note, there's a little irony between this Christian Bale and the incident that happened for the Batman Rises movie.  Just a small coincidence, I guess.

"I have all of the characteristics of a human being. Flesh, blood, skin, hair, but not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust.  Something horrible is happening inside of me.  And I don’t know why.  My nightly blood lust has flowed into my days.  I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy.  I think my mask of sanity is about to slip." - Patrick Bateman