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Movies / Upcoming / The Machinist
The Machinist

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The Machinist (2004)

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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.

Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $939,471

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... 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 in a bleak and nondescript American city, where Trevor Reznick (Bale) is quite literally withering away to nothing. During the day Trevor works in a colorless industrial factory, while at night he seeks refuge in the bed of a tender prostitute, Stevie (Jennifer Jason Leigh). For reasons unknown even to Trevor, he hasn't been able to sleep for an entire year. In the process, he has shed over sixty pounds, making him look like a walking skeleton. After an accident at the factory costs Trevor his job, he finds himself tracking a mysterious figure that may or may not, in fact, provide some answers to his confusion. Meanwhile, he begins to connect with a pretty airport waitress, Marie (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon), who shows Trevor some much-needed sympathy. By the time the film builds to its revelatory conclusion, it becomes quite clear just what has been tormenting Trevor all along. Anderson and Kosar's vision is brought to spectacular life by cinematographer Xavi Gimenez and composer Roque Banos, whose haunting atmospherics recall the best work of Alfred Hitchcock. And then, of course, there is Bale, whose performance is as terrifying, brave, and devastating as the screen has ever seen. [More]

Starring: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, Michael Ironside

Starring: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, Michael Ironside, John Sharian

Director: Brad Anderson

Director: Brad Anderson
Screenwriter: Scott Kosar
Producer: Julio Fernandez
Composer: Roque Banos
Studio: Paramount Classics

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Reviews for The Machinist

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21 - 40 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

The performances are nothing short of superb - Bale's skeletal form alone is likely to be the most haunting visual image of the year.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
03/19/05
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

Mark Twain said that Wagner's music isn't as bad as it sounds. The Machinist isn't as good as it looks. But Bale's fever-dream performance is otherworldly great.

Full Review Source: Seattle Weekly | comment Comment
03/09/05
Tim Appelo
Tim Appelo
Seattle Weekly

Bale's performance has the emotional weight to substantiate this body-art spectacle, ranging from prickly self-righteousness through panicked self-doubt to morbid self-pity...

Full Review Source: Sight and Sound | comment Comment
03/01/05
Ben Walters
Ben Walters
Sight and Sound

The Machinist doesn't offer large rewards beyond Bale's presence and its vague atmosphere of dread, but those are enough.

Full Review Source: Charlotte Observer | comment Comment
02/25/05
Lawrence Toppman
Lawrence Toppman
Charlotte Observer

This bleak exercise in paranoia is somewhat thin on 'entertainment value,' but it's heavy enough on mood to warrant spending a few hours inside Reznik's skin.

Full Review Source: Lawrence Journal-World | comment Comment
02/04/05
Jon Niccum
Jon Niccum
Lawrence Journal-World

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.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
01/26/05
Jamie Russell
Jamie Russell
BBC

You can’t stop thinking about how awful Bale looks—partly because his transformation is so unnerving, but also because the film doesn’t give you anything else to think about.

Full Review Source: Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada) | comment Comment
01/04/05
Paul Matwychuk
Paul Matwychuk
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Zap2it.com | comment Comment
12/19/04
Hanh Nguyen
Hanh Nguyen
Zap2it.com

An unsettling psychological thriller despite being composed of old, familiar parts, the film has an atmosphere that's as scary and tense as anything else this year.

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
12/19/04
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

Watching The Machinist can be a chore, as it requires absolute attention from the viewer. But don’t let that scare you away.

Full Review Source: Reno Gazette-Journal | comment Comment
12/16/04
Forrest Hartman
Forrest Hartman
Reno Gazette-Journal

Too derivative to earn a strong recommendation

Full Review Source: Movie Habit | comment Comment
12/15/04
Marty Mapes
Marty Mapes
Movie Habit

[Bale's] haunted, sunken-eyed look will stay with you for days.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
12/11/04
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

[Bale's] is a great performance, full of commitment and sacrifice, and The Machinist is one of the year's best films.

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
12/10/04
Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel

The Machinist doesn't take us to a happy place. For those who appreciate true mind-bending grit, though, this is the bedeviled place to be

Full Review Source: San Antonio Express-News | comment Comment
12/10/04
Larry Ratliff
Larry Ratliff
San Antonio Express-News

Bale's body-sacrificing performance is worth catching, even if the story is as thin as he is.

Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
12/10/04
Sean Means
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune

The film is admirably atmospheric but it ultimately loses its nerve and is revealed as just another comforting lesson in redemption.

Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | comment Comment
12/10/04
John Beifuss
John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

The trouble with the movie is that its dramatic content is almost as thin as Reznik's extremities, and nearly as obvious as the ribs that poke through his skin.

Full Review Source: Orlando Weekly | comment Comment
12/09/04
Steve Schneider
Steve Schneider
Orlando Weekly

A product of precision engineering, a compact model of bare-bones efficiency.

Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | comment Comment
12/09/04
Tim Hansen
Tim Hansen
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

...more freak show than creep show.

Full Review Source: Boulder Weekly | comment Comment
12/07/04
Thomas Delapa
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly

A generic Twilight Zone-type thriller

Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment Comment
12/03/04
Robert W. Butler
Robert W. Butler
Kansas City Star
 
 
21 - 40 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
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