If you've seen any episode of Serling's Twilight Zone, you've already seen The Machinist.

Dark subject with pretty good acting. I found the ending was a bit too complete for my taste. Not as good as session 9 but still a very solid movie.

Excellent film with too many great performances to list. I must say, however, I am getting a little tired of the morons at the Onion A.V. Club panning nearly every movie that come out. It's pretentious, elitist and above all predictable. I think the only positive review I've read (of a film I'd actually seen) was for The Ring 2. Odd, since that particular movie was a complete waste of film stock. On a side note, am I the only one who noticed that it wasn't Trevor Reznik's fault that his co-worker loses an arm? Miller (the soon to be one-armed man) asks Trevor for help with a piece of equipment. The first question out of Trevor's mouth; "Is the safety on?" Miller absent-mindedly says tells him "Huh? Yeah, sure." If the safety had actually been on, Trevor wouldn't have been able to turn the machine on the way he did and Miller wouldn't have lost his arm. A minor point, I know, but it is irritating to read the same inaccuracy in every review of this brilliant, affecting film.… Expand

This is one of the crappiest movies I have ever seen...it was gross and dark and Christian Bale looked disgusting - really, really disgusting. It was boring and dragged on in places for a ridiculously long time. I kept thinking, right up to the last 5 minutes, that something was going to happen to give this movie some credibility, but instead I finished the movie and felt disappointed and a little bit sick to my stomach. Take my advice, don't rent this stinker!!!… Expand

Creepy movie with good acting by Bale. If you noticed about half way through the movie he was reading Dostoyevsky, who wrote Crime and Punishment. The protagonist in that novel had some similarities to the one in the movie. The director was giving out a big clue there, for anyone who might catch it.

Been a fan of Bale since American Psycho and this performance is just as good. This film has suspense, good visuals and a great story as well as good acting

This is a thinking man's movie, if you don't enjoy re-examining or at least re-thinking segments of the movie then this is not for you. I love a movie in which the meaning of scenes change once the entire story is revealed. This is by no means a masterpiece but, none the less, is a movie that should be scene by anyone who enjoys a smart movie or even remotely considers oneself a movie buff. Cheers to trying something different.… Expand

Undoubtedly one of the best in the psychological genre. Proves that you don't need special effects to rivet the viewer to his/her seat. You will be thinking about this one for weeks after the fact.

Great, great film! so refreshing to see something outside the usual Hollywood formula nightmare. this is a true nightmare with a great performance by christian bale in the lead and great directing by brad Anderson. I was a big fan of his "session 9", and this confirms his position as the best indie director working today. great story, masterfully pieced together. you know the whole time its an "all in his head" story, but that doesn't take away from the impact when you finally discover "Why"!! brilliant. anyone who says otherwise is an idiot.… Expand

This is the type of film that is scarier in afterthought than while you are watching it. For your average teenage slasher film fan, this is a fatal flaw: however, if you are one of the tiny subsegment of horror movie consumers who love movies that attempt the profundity of great literature... I'm not sure, but this film may be a masterpiece that dropped when nobody was looking. And while The Machinist did at times remind me visually of other recent artsy classics, the stylization here is always subsumed to a stubborn realism rarely seen outside of a Mike Leigh movie. I found The Machinist to be a haunting film experience, maybe even slightly traumatizing. I associate this experience with certain often anthologized classics of lterary horror because nothing really jumps at you here the way we expect from a horror movie. This film is about an everyday kind of horror, a horror without a hint of the supernatural, like Checkov's Ward 6 or Tolstoy's Death of Ivan Illyich. Shallow people won't get it.… Expand

I loved this movie. The acting is top-notch. The ending completely surprised me.

Think of fight club, take away the sardonicism, and make it more realistic and you've got the machinist ... kind of ... one of few films that makes you think but doesn't completely not make sense. Like fight club, the cool twist doesn't really hit until you watch it a second time. Good film go see it

Just Brilliant!!!

This is a visually beautiful movie and I'm sure I will watch it a few times, and I'm someone who usually only watches a movie once. I still can't figure it out but I'll have fun trying. Don't compare this to any other movies, it's truly one-of-a-kind. If Christian Bale and Jennifer Jason Leigh don't get nominated for academy awards then I don't know what the academy is looking for. I love jb young's review here, I can't really add much to that one. Bale and Leigh and the entire supporting cast should expect great things from the reception from this movie, it will grow in popularity for years to come. Congratulations to director Brad Anderson and writer Scott Kosar. It's a masterpiece.… Expand

I picked The Machinist up out of curiosity, after hearing the hoopla concerning Bale's dramatic weight loss to get the part, and seeing the positive reviews. After Batman Begins it thought it would be intriguing to see what a "skeletal" Bale looked like, but it turned out to be about the same as seeing one of those poor starving dogs on a change can at the checkout counter in a convenience store. You look, you feel sorry for the dog, but you really don't care to know much more. Feed it, or put it out of it's misery. That's what I wanted to do to Bale's character in this movie. Instead, I had to sit through a plodding telling of a pretty boring tale. As provocative as the hallucinatory/psychotic effects from a year of sleep deprivation were, they just didn't make up for the flat, tedious story. Yeah, we knew SOMETHING big happened to make this guy so screwed up, and if the ending delivered that something big, I could have forgiven the rest of the movie for being so lifeless. Unfortunately, the satisfying ending I was expecting didn't happen. Nope. All in all, the Machinist left me hungry for something more... like a good story.… Expand

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).… Expand

"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.… Expand

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. Everyone9;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.… Expand

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.… Expand

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.… Expand

Hmmm... critics divided. General public not. This is an awesome film. Fight club meets Memento directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Watch it immediately.

Good Movie overall. Great build up and suspense. Bale is a great actor.

An above average movie purely because Bale is the finest young actor of this generation.

Wonderful movie...there's a story,atmosphere,suspence and a great performance of Bale highly recommended.

This movie is worthless. It looks good, and Bale is real skinny, but its a shame he lost so much weight for a movie this flimsy. It works so hard to get some kind of creepy gravitas, but it's not-so-surprise ending is... kinda schmeh. And there are no ideas behind the movie, no themes, no REASON for anything except that it might look or sound cool. This is like a watered down Fight Club. So why not just watch that instead? By coincidence I re-wtched Pi the night before I saw the Machinist, and when I left the theater after seeing the latter, I couldn't help but compare the two: they're both supposed to be paranoid head trips. The reason the Machinist is so stupid is also why something like Pi is so good: character, ideas. Bah, watching the Machinist was a waste of life, I'm annoyed I'm even typing about it now. So I'll stop.… Expand

2004's most striking and startling movie visual effect didn't come from Spielberg, Zemeckis, Bruckheimer or Pixar. Nope, it's Christian Bale in The Machinist, just about literally giving his all for his craft: playing a haunted soul who hasn't slept in over a year but who also looks as though he hadn't eaten in that long either, Bale makes Tom Hanks after years on the desert island in Cast Away look like...well, Hanks BEFORE he set foot on the island. Director Brad Anderson has a knack for making everything he touches look creepy and menacing, including his romantic comedies like Happy Endings, so he's well within his element here. The movie's look definitely helps, too; the nighttime scenes, which make up the vast majority of the running time, are just an iota or two away from black and white, while the daytime ones have the grainy, washed-out look of those 1950s and 60s classroom instructional shorts like Red Asphalt that supposedly were intended to teach us to use tools and machines carefully but more likely scared a few folks away from them altogether. (This is entirely appropriate for a film whose hero really should never, NEVER be allowed to touch anything more complicated than a handheld can opener.) Anderson mixes reality with hallucination and, in doing so, I thought played fair with his audience: I was able to piece together some of the puzzle but didn't entirely piece together how everything fit until he and writer Scott Kosar wanted me to, and I left the theater confident that with the evidence at hand, I COULD'VE solved it completely. Jennifer Jason Leigh endearingly reinterprets the boilerplate "hooker-with-a-heart-of-you-know-what" role, and Michael Ironside, who has made an entire film career out of being the biggest scuzzball in whatever he's in (Including The Perfect Storm) gets credit for NOT being it this time. So again, back to Bale and the ethics of his transformation: is it out of all proportion for Bale or anyone else to possibly endanger his life (and in certain post-movie discussions elicit the term "Holocaust survivor") in order to do what is essentially an extended Twilight Zone or Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode (albeit with Kafkaesque overtones)? Ultimately, that's Bale's choice, he made it, and he's very good in ways that extend beyond his appearance. So if you see him on the street, congratulate him, shake his hand...and then get him to a Homestyle Buffet and don't let him leave until he's had at least three helpings!… Expand

A great lead performance and brilliant direction is let down by an awfully uncreative plot. We've seen all this before. However, its the most visually striking movie I've seen this year and definitely the most slickly directed. The ambiance is also aided by the haunting music in the background.

What this film suffers from the most is that it sets the audience up for a gargantuan revelation in its end but ends out pretty much as cryptic as it started. The performances were fantastic and script fascinating enough for anyone who enjoys (Dare I say deeply?) disturbing genres.

Sometimes a little slow but brilliantly asphyxiating, stressful and intriguing. You can't stop feeling bad for Trevor's behaviour and even though you know he's completely paranoid, a part of you still wants him to be right.