A great film, that should've been better.

Rating: 7/10 (10 January 2016)

A fantastic roller-coaster of thrill and hilarity, American Psycho pulls you in to the twisted insanity that is the brain of psychopath Patrick Bateman (played by Christian Bale). Perhaps considered a staple of the serial killer genre, this film is a great example of good cinema although unfortunately finds itself dragged down by its overly ambiguous and muddled ending. I felt as if I was cheated of giving this movie an extra star (8/10) and so nearly did, however the ending cast such a shadow over the film due to its poor execution that I couldn't bring myself to look past it, which is unfortunate because the ending could have been handled so much better but felt lazy in some ways.
Christian Bale's performance is magnificent, leading a one man show for much of the film, whilst other performances were at times questionable to say the least. To successfully pull off a character who has an inability to portray characteristics and still have the audience feel empathy for the character, albeit accompanied by being terrified of him, is a difficult feat and Bale certainly does pull it off. Some scenes throughout the film felt misplaced, especially towards the start, although when the ball got rolling it felt as if the picture reached out and threw you into the world and mind of Patrick Bateman with a one way ticket to wherever he is taking you. I certainly felt sucked into the film at that point and I feel as if this movie does a great job at doing exactly that, even throughout the majority of the muddled closing sequence.
In summary, American Psycho is an oddly enjoyable film, from Patrick Bateman's satirical monologues throughout, to the terrifying gruesome yet epic violence, this film had the recipe to be a great; however the end product is more a sponge cake than a black forest gateau, but what a incredible sponge it is!