Hell to the no he wasn't overacting...Again i have to question peoples thought processes to say s**t like that...All i can say is you haven't a clue what good acting is if you think his portrayal of Jim was bad.
The complete mental and emotional deterioration that Bale took Jim through was riveting, The dude was a complete live wire, a total self destructive train wreck that you couldn't take your eyes off.
He was suicidal, even he didn't know it...The complexities and layers in Bale's performance were outstanding, and do you know why it was uncomfortable for some? cause the psychology of it was all too real.
This was real *beep* up 'psyche' stuff this guy was going through, Let the guys who come home from the war tell you what it's like, Even the psychology of PTSD Bale nailed, That hyper sensitivity/delusion/paranoia/rage etc.
The character wasn't on the same spectrum that you or I would be so you find it hard to relate unless you've been through it or have witnessed it first hand, The way Bale jumped from one emotional state to the next quick as a flash showed how completely out of whack his nerves were.
And as some other poster said the 'Dawg' 'Homie' stuff was just posturing, He's not that guy anymore and even he doesn't know who he is, He's all over the map..
Is he fun lovin party boy 'Homie' Jim? he certainly thinks he is even if he doesn't recognize it anymore, He's clamoring for a simpler time..A nostalgia of sorts but it's gone and he can't reconcile with that so the 'man child' over posturing alpha s**t is over compensation, Of course it's uncomfortable cause he's uncomfortable.
Then you have 'grunt' Jim.. Yes sir No sir Jim, it's all he's been for 6 years straight, Primal 'battle weary' war zone Jim, Watch how completely Jim snaps into it, like it's a second skin, It's the only thing that he is sure of but that's where his trauma lies.
Then you have regular wanna get married and have a future Jim, That's the Jim he wants to be, But he can't escape his past so he can't have that future.
That's 3 different Jim's and Bale nailed that..Look at the 'psychology' of the character, this guy is full of rage/nervous energy and you can see it bubbling under his skin, You can see that he just wants to be better but he can't help himself from wanting to wreck everything in his path.
As for the accent/mannerisms..Yes these people do exist, they're no different from 'wiggers' and Bale actually hung out with a few of them to get his character down as well as Ayer knowing people like that.
But these are the soldiers who are trained to kill for their country and are irrecoverably changed by their experiences, and have to suddenly just forget it all afterwards and slip back into society like it's easy..These are the people that society on a whole forgets about or simply turns away cause they simply don't wanna know or see just what war does to humans.
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