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Machinist, The
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 35 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Suspense/Thriller
Written by: Scott Kosar
Directed by: Brad Anderson
Release Date:
Theatrical: October 22, 2004
DVD: June 7, 2005
Running Time: 98 minutes, Color
Origin: Spain
Summary
RATING: R for violence and disturbing images, sexuality and language
Starring Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, John Sharian, Michael Ironside, Larry Gilliard Jr., Reg E. Cathey, Anna Massey, and James DePaul
Trevor Reznik has not slept for a year. His every waking minute has become an unremitting nightmare of confusion, paranoia, guilt, anxiety and terror - each of which is part of an escalating series of clues that will lead to the source of his mysterious affliction. (Paramount Classics)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Happy Accidents Next Stop Wonderland Session 9
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The Hollywood Reporter Duane Byrge
A brilliantly honed tale of dementia, starring a skeletal Christian Bale as a tormented insomniac wasting away and terrorized by his irreal existence.
Read Full Review >New York Post Megan Lehmann
Anderson gives The Machinist a sickly noirish look that contributes to the creeping horror - but it's the emaciated Bale's spectral presence that leaves the imprint.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Bale is totally convincing, if not especially endearing.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Don R. Lewis
The Machinist is so brave and visually impressive, it should demand an audience.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
A harrowing experience for those to whom this sort of story appeals.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Director Brad Anderson tightens the screws of suspense, but it's Bale's gripping, beyond-the-call-of-duty performance that holds you in thrall.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Bale gives a near-great performance as a man with all the symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia and the film weaves an ingenious psychological web.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
The film presents a compelling portrait of mental illness, but looking at Bale may make audiences feel as though they're watching a documentary.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
In the hands of a less talented filmmaker, The Machinist would have felt like a stunt. But Anderson, with a terrific assist from Bale, makes his character's plight achingly physical.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Achy Obejas
A moody psychological thriller with a stunning performance by Christian Bale at its core.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
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.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
Here his (Bale's) physicality is repellent, yet he carries the occasionally creaky plot of Scott Kosar's unsettling screenplay to a resonant finish.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
Not quite stunning enough to live up to a boldly bleak and unrelenting buildup.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
An intense, precision-controlled psychological mystery built around a very creepy lead performance by Christian Bale.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Never gives us the nuts and bolts of mental illness and guilt, just the sight of cooped-up steam escaping from a valve that’s about to blow.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Turns out to be something entirely different than it initially seemed, and while the conclusion brings everything to a logical close, it also renders the movie less interesting -- a stunt that didn't merit Bale's startling, and dangerous, transformation.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
An hallucinatory mix of the imagined and the real, all revolving around the mystery at the cold heart of the tale.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
Give Anderson credit for at least sustaining a mood. This is the kind of all-or-nothing movie in which a filmmaker probably can't waver from his tone.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
May be an expertly manipulated exercise in psychological horror, but that's all it is. Don't look for the kind of metaphoric weight you'd find in a movie by David Lynch or David Fincher.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Anderson is a master of detail, from the film's ubiquitous fish motif to the elaborate carnival set piece that unfolds inside the claustrophobic confines of a spook-house ride called "Route 666."
Read Full Review >Empire Ian Nathan
It's a result so painfully logical it would make Lynch's hair stand on end.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan
Although the primary plot line turns out to be a letdown, there are aspects of The Machinist that redeem it. Bale's performance is one; another is the dull, metallic look of the picture.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson
Director Brad Anderson (Session 9) is usually really good at humanizing ambiguous characters, and he ultimately succeeds, but he has to fight against Scott Kosar's script.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
The main, if not only, reason to see The Machinist is for Christian Bale's title performance, and even then you have to be a fan of hardcore martyrdom in the service of craft.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Kim Morgan
In a way, though, it’s all Bale's show. Withering down to an alarming 120 pounds, he delivers a deeply obsessed performance that leaves us both fascinated and sickened.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Bale exists all too large under the circumstances, a well-fed actor playing at emaciation for the sake of a fiction about a character whose torment is as unreadable as his vertebrae are countable.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Dennis Lim
The Machinist has no meat on its bones, and we've seen it all before.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Bale gives a remarkable performance in a movie I can recommend to no one, because the sight of him is more distressing than any of the allegedly deep themes of the picture.
Read Full Review >Premiere Peter Debruge
Director Brad Anderson (Session 9) overtly cribs from everyone from Dostoevsky to Kafka.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Unrelentingly dreary, and seemingly destined to be remembered, if at all, as that movie Christian Bale lost a full third of his body weight for. It doesn't deserve any better.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 35 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Tim H gave it a4:
If you've seen any episode of Serling's Twilight Zone, you've already seen The Machinist.
Craig A. gave it a10:
Hmmm... critics divided. General public not. This is an awesome film. Fight club meets Memento directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Watch it immediately.
Jeffrey L. gave it a9:
I have a simple requirement for a movie to earn high marks: that the story be sufficiently interesting, the writing and acting sufficiently honest and convincing that they keep me thorougly immersed in the film. Few movies accomplish this. A single manipulative plot twist, or unconvincing characterization--as are abundant, for example, in Woody Allen's monumentally insipid recent hit "Match Point"--will catapult me pellmell out of the movie and back into the room where I happen to be watching. The Machinist lacked any of these shortcomings, and made for thoroughly engrossing, albeit intensely disturbing movie. I'm taking the time to write these comments because I feel so badly for filmmakers who do such a great job, then fail to receive the recognition they deserve, while pretentious, shallow drivel such as Match Point receives undeserved praise. More disturbing to me than the film were the off-the-mark critical reviews. The people who have rated this movie highly got it right. Therefore, I'll give it one bonus point, for a 9, rather than an 8.
Andrew gave it a10:
Ignore the haters. The Memento comparisons are warranted, but this is a far superior film. Memento was more of a whodunit disguised as a psychological thriller. This IS a psychological thriller. In Memento (a film I thought was alright, but terribly overrated) you are one step ahead of the protagonist through much of the film and the ending was fairly ho-hum. The Machinist, on the other hand, really delivers the goods. You are just as lost, confused, and helpless as Christian Bale (doing his best work since American Psycho.) Throughout the movie, I found myself asking the same questions he was asking himself. Why can't this guy sleep? What's the deal with his mysterious co-worker Ivan? Is he a hallucination? Is this whole thing a hallucination? Why is it always 1:30? Are his co-workers really messing with him or is he just paranoid? How do the hooker and the waitress fit into all of this? The ending is both satisfying and surprising. You won't see it coming (not entirely, at least) but it fits the plot in a logical way. None of that non-sensical surprise ending crap. This could have become a trainwreck of a movie but Brad Anderson handled it deftly. Unless you're one of those people who can't take movies where you won't know what the hell is going on most of the time, definatley check this one out. One of the best movies I've seen in a long time. If you enjoy this one, check out Session 9 as well. Keep the hits coming Mr. Anderson.
Halifax R. gave it a2:
This is Memento for half-wits. It's mostly shots of Christian Bale looking at his emaciated body in the mirror. The film is a slow and painful plodding toward a twist ending. And sure, there's a twist, but it comes perfectly gift wrapped in in slow-motion after-school special cheese that in no way justifies the preceding hours of over-serious, over-stylized boredom. Everyone's impressed that Christian Bale lost one third of his body weight for a role but this movie is so hollow and poorly written it comes off as a depressing publicity stunt.
Chad S. gave it an8:
"The Machinist" is like a malevolent "Hulk". This film hides its secrets better than most films with twist endings. You may guess who Trevor's assailant is, but not necessarily the reason as to why he's on his tail. Although "The Machinist" isn't billed as a horror film, it comes pretty close to being one. With a little tweaking, it could've been a superior example of the genre, certainly better than "Hide and Seek". Trevor Reznik is Travis Bickle with a different psychological disorder, and is decidedly not Jake LaMotta. Christian Bale gives a winning performance, but so would any capable malnourished actor, or for that matter, an Auschwitz Jew.
Linda L. gave it a10:
The negative remarks by critics puzzle me: If this had been a Sean Penn movie they'd all be talking "Oscar." This film is intense, disturbing, moving; Christian Bale's performance is profound. it's one of those movies whose puzzles and upsetting questions (sort of like "Memento," but less gimmicky) have you worried that it'll end before you figure it out. Yet the resolution is satisfying (dramatically, at least).
