There's no avoiding getting overwhelmingly hooked on this character, and ready to follow him into whatever nightmare realm.
The Machinist (2004)
Tomatometer
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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.
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
Reviews for The Machinist
Don't know about you, but I'm going out for some prime rib, a pitcher of beer and some kind of whipped cream desert. And, Mr. Bale, you're invited to join me!
It's more of an idea, like the premise for a Twilight Zone episode or the skeleton of a 20-minute short film awkwardly stretched to feature length.
Anderson and Bale build something that only sounds like a chore: a character study as its own prison
The movie is ingeniously designed. It is also repulsive and I wish I hadn't seen it.
A stylish but fatally shallow puzzler that suggests a Twilight Zone episode filmed on the leftover sets of Seven.
Not the most entertaining thriller you'll sidle up to, but its relentlessly grim tale has that timeless car crash quality.
There is more to Bale's performance than the stick figure physique. Trevor is a man literally being consumed with angst, eyes hollow, posture stooped and mouth agape.
Next year, everyone will know him as Batman, but this year Christian Bale wants us to know he can act. Mission accomplished.
Stylishly grim and nervously intriguing for most of its running length, but concludes with an underwhelming, derivative whimper.
Imagine if the twist in The Sixth Sense had turned out to be something as depressingly ordinary as, say, Bruce Willis’ character never having been a licensed psychologist.
The film's persuasively doom-haunted atmosphere and star Christian Bale's astonishing transformation into an emaciated walking skeleton are hypnotic, in a roadkill, rubbernecking sort of way.
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...
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