Click to read the article
Comment
06/08/05
The Machinist (2004)
75
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:131
Fresh:98
Rotten:33
Average Rating:6.6/10
Consensus: A suspenseful low-budget thriller where Christian Bale completely inhabits his role.
Synopsis: Christian Bale delivers one of cinema's most sacrificial performances in Brad Anderson's mesmerizing thriller. Written by Scott Kosar (2003's THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE), THE MACHINIST takes place... [More]
Starring: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, Michael Ironside
Director: Brad Anderson
Reviews for The Machinist
Top CriticSome people will pick up the clues early in The Machinist and some won't. I got some, not all, but I remained unengaged throughout, largely because of the film's deliberateness, which feels like lack of passion.
06/10/05
Top CriticBale is superb as Trevor, able to not only convey the wasted person within, but to avoid making his physical appearance the only thing we care about or notice.
10/18/08
Top CriticIt's a somber, sometimes slow-slithering dark piece that's heavier on style than substance, but it all works.
06/12/06
Even in a time when weight gains and losses in the service of a role have become commonplace, Bale has accomplished an astonishing change.
10/15/04
Though Bale deserves all the credit that can be heaped at his feet ... there is far more to this sinister psychological thriller than just exhibiting Bale's emaciated form.
12/02/04
It's an overly calculated, schematic graph of a script that eliminates the things we go to the movies to experience: interesting characters, a story we can relate to, an emotional release.
11/23/04
Anderson definitely has a flair for creating a diffuse sense of fear, paranoia, and mental illness onscreen.
11/28/04
You'll join the dots in Anderson's thriller within the first five minutes - a real crying shame since Bale deserved much more for his pound -- or 63 -- of flesh.
01/26/05
The Machinist is a beautifly haunting - chillingly stark - film that places you knee-deep within an oblique nightmarescape a strange and troubled man is experiencing.
10/20/04
A stylish but fatally shallow puzzler that suggests a Twilight Zone episode filmed on the leftover sets of Seven.
10/29/04
Not the most entertaining thriller you'll sidle up to, but its relentlessly grim tale has that timeless car crash quality.
10/29/04
Click to read the article
10/30/04
...more freak show than creep show.
12/07/04
Bale's brilliance in the role lies not only in the fact that he starved himself for months but that he fully inhabits this wasted, paranoid man.
10/21/04
Bale’s weight loss is no acting gimmick, but merely the most extreme aspect of what is truly an astonishing performance.
12/03/04
The Machinist doesn't offer large rewards beyond Bale's presence and its vague atmosphere of dread, but those are enough.
02/25/05
The director Brad Anderson, working from a screenplay by Scott Kosar, wants to convey a state of mind, and he and Bale do that with disturbing effectiveness.
11/19/04
Top CriticA moody psychological thriller with a stunning performance by Christian Bale at its core.
11/18/04
Effectively weirded-out chiller about a factory worker who may - or may not - be a cold-blooded killer. Bale is brilliant.
10/21/04
Latest News for The Machinist
December 01, 2006:
The Weekly Ketchup: A Third "Starship Troopers," Jack Black Collaborates With Michel Gondry, Tension Between Fox And Marvel Over "X-Men," And More!
In this week's Ketchup, the campy classic "Starship Troopers" may finally get a proper successor with Casper Van Dien returning for "Starship Troopers 3"... More...
October 19, 2006:
Critical Consensus: "Flags" Flies High; "The Prestige" Is Magic; "Flicka" Is A Pretty Good Ride; "Marie Antoinette" Spared Critical Guillotine
This week at the movies, we've got a complex tale of heroism (Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers," starring Ryan Phillippe), a story of dueling magicians... More...
December 16, 2005:
London Movie Critics Present Their '05 Nominations
Movie City News shares with us a press release from the London Film Critics Group in which their various nominations are announced. Keep in mind that the Brit crits use their... More...
November 01, 2005:
New Distributor Makes a "Fragile" Purchase
You might not be familiar with the name "Bauer Martinez" just yet, but if you're a frequent moviegoer, you'll know it soon enough. Bauer Martinez Distribution is a... More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Fresh Links
Featured
40 Best Films of the 2000s 
Last week, Moviefone offered us their worst films of the 2000s. Now see their 40 best!
Competitions
Win Funny People on DVD
We're giving away copies of Judd Apatow's latest.
RSS Feeds