Christian Bale: Heartthrob or thespian?

Perhaps Christian Bale is too gifted an actor to be considered an A-list heartthrob. Then again, maybe he’s too good-looking to be taken seriously as a thespian.

The truth is that Bale is both handsome enough to qualify as an effective leading man and accomplished enough as an actor to be mentioned around awards time. In Hollywood, he may be stuck in that no man’s land of the categorization-challenged.

In sports, they refer to someone like Bale as a ’tweener — stuck between two classifications, a man without a pigeonhole.

And that may be just as well. It is Bale’s unique position in the film business that makes his career so intriguing. Movie buffs can be sure that each time the 33-year-old native of Wales signs on to a picture, he will eventually deliver a performance that demands a viewing, and in a project that is worthy of his considerable talents.

That has become more and more evident with each role. His road to stardom in big-budget Hollywood films — which leads most recently to “3:10 to Yuma,” director James Mangold’s remake of the classic Western that opens this weekend — began with stage roles as a child actor and moved on to significant career moves in pictures like “Empire of the Sun” in 1987 and “Newsies” in 1992.

Bale’s breakthrough performance as an adult actor was as the suave and upscale serial killer Patrick Bateman in Mary Harron’s film adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis’ novel, “American Psycho” in 2000. While the picture itself received a mixed reception from critics and audiences, Bale’s chilling turn as a charming psychopath caused casting directors to scurry for his head shot.

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In recent years Bale has appeared in an impressive series of pictures, most notably in Christopher Nolan’s rousing “Batman Begins,” which breathed new life into a gasping franchise. In “3:10 to Yuma,”  he plays Dan Evans, a struggling rancher who agrees to escort a vicious outlaw (Russell Crowe) to the nearest train station where he can then be transported to Yuma and put on trial.

The film is yet another example of Bale’s penchant for playing characters that have depth and complexity at the same time that he satisfies Hollywood’s demand for box-office appeal. And with each outing, he succeeds on both counts.

Here are five films that a Christian Bale fan shouldn’t miss:

“Empire of the Sun”
Bale was 12 when he snared the plum role of Jamie, a British schoolboy enjoying a privileged life overseas, in Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation of the novel by J.G. Ballard about a family that tries to flee Shanghai during the Japanese invasion of 1941. The crush of attention after the film’s release almost caused him to give up acting. But his nuanced performance — delivered under the pressure of working for a director who had already become a young legend — set a new standard for child actors. Bale is in almost every frame of the film, and he has to age from 9 to 13. The film itself is considered glorious by some, uneven by others. But Bale’s work is cited almost as often as Spielberg’s. After this, he played a small part in Kenneth Branagh’s “Henry V” but didn’t have another major Hollywood role until “Newsies” in 1992, a much-publicized disappointment that at least served to bring Bale some attention. From there, it was a tough but steady slog until “American Psycho” in 2000.

“American Psycho”
The movie version received lots of advanced publicity because of some grisly depictions that were present in Bret Easton Ellis’ novel. Bale plays Patrick Bateman, who has an important job on Wall Street but who also has some issues with humanity. He kills, and he enjoys doing so. It was the kind of role that either catapults a young actor’s career if it works, or sinks it if it doesn’t. The film wasn’t a complete success at the box office or among critics; most of the lumps resulted from the satirical tone and the anemic attempt at social commentary. But Bale seemed to avoid any of the shrapnel that often accompanies a high-profile bust. Actors often talk about the importance of working without a net. Bale threw himself into this despicable character with enthusiasm and glee, and the result was a radiant portrayal of a dark-hearted creep.

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