AMERICAN PSYCHO

Having failed to get to the end of the Bret Easton Ellis novel I’m very glad I could watch instead this excellent adaptation, which somehow got made despite Ellis himself thinking that his satire was unfilmable.

I'm also glad that Christian Bale eventually was cast in the main role of Patrick Bateman; it's really hard to imagine anyone else playing the part.

Bateman is a New York investment banker who, if you believe him, is also a serial killer although as the violence escalates and becomes more surreal it's unclear how much on the screen is real and how much is just in his head, Bateman being a classic case of an unreliable narrator.

As a result the film is open to various interpretations, mine for what its worth being that the killings start off as being real before Bateman suffers a major meltdown and becomes prey to delusions.

Ultimately maybe it doesn't matter because one thing is for sure, Bateman is one seriously disturbed individual.  Appropriately for someone for whom appearances are all that matters, there's nothing inside.  When at the end he breaks down and confesses his crimes no one is interested, which serves to show how ephemeral his existence is.

The film does a great job of showing us the emptiness of the culture in which Bateman moves, especially the vacuous and interchangeable bankers who try to outdo each other with the pretentiousness of their business cards.

As well as being a satire of a culture and a type of masculinity there are several very tense scenes in which various potential victims are unknowingly in a state of jeopardy.

RATING: ✓ Cheers