The story has its imperfections, but Bale made me forget about that

Rating: 7/10 (20 July 2005)

Of course I already had heard of this movie before, but it took me until today to finally give it a try. I knew that this was a movie about a serial killer and in my opinion there is no movie with such a subject that reaches the high standard that once has been set by "The Silence of the Lambs". But it was my brother who told me that I shouldn't hesitate. He's an absolute fan of this movie and he was convinced that I would like it too.
During the day time Patrick Bateman appears to be a normal young man working on wall street at his father's company. But he has a dark secret. At night he turns into a homicidal maniac who likes to kill for fun. He doesn't really need a reason to murder, but it always helps when he is extremely envious of for instance his fellow co-workers. But he also murders out of pure hatred or complete insanity. Gradually his insanity increases, making him kill more than 20 people, ranging from models to homeless people, co-workers, friends, and anyone else who stands in his way. The only person that seems to be save for him is his secretary Jean, although she too almost becomes one of his victims. But is all this actually true, has it really all happened or is it just a product of his imagination, a psychotic delusion. No-one really knows, certainly not Patrick Bateman...
I guess there are two ways of seeing this movie. You can either see it as a pure slasher movie full of gore or you can see it as a satirical thriller that tries to show how empty and shallow society can be. I prefer the second opinion, as it is clear to me that Patrick Bateman may well be a typical yuppie from the eighties, but still feels relevant today. Murders still happen and many people still don't seem to care all that much about it, as there are always enough people who will never be missed by anyone.
In the end, this certainly isn't a perfect movie. There are just too many imperfections in the story for that. It's for instance a bit slow and sometimes you don't really have the feeling that the movie is telling anything that you haven't seen a few minutes earlier. But it's thanks to the wonderful performance of Christian Bale that I'm willing to forget about that. What he did with the role of Bateman can't really be improved by any other actor. He's absolutely stunning in his role and was by far the best actor in this movie, even though the others did a good job too. It's thanks to Bale's performance that I liked this movie and that's the reason why I give this movie a rating in between 7/10 and 7.5/10.