With time as a buffer, it's now easier to see The Machinist for what it is: a labyrinthine leap down the rabbit hole into a nightmarish wonderland.
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05/18/09
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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.
Theatrical Release:Oct 22, 2004 Limited
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... [More]
Starring: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, Michael Ironside
Director: Brad Anderson
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Reviews for The Machinist
It's fulfilling to watch a psychological thriller that demands the audience watch, pay attention, follow along, and decipher for themselves without falling in to the usual Hollywood conventions.
04/29/09
Here, shorn of every ounce of body fat, Bale is laid open like an autopsy specimen, and he easily gives his best performance.
02/27/09
Bale 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
Um angustiante pesadelo que, trazendo Bale numa performance corajosa e repleta de auto-sacrifício, funciona como um estudo poético sobre os extremos da culpa.
08/15/08
full review in Greek
10/03/06
The Machinist, in terms of its gimmicky, save-the-conceit structure, is a bit like the self-consciously clever Memento but not even half as fun.
08/27/06
It's a somber, sometimes slow-slithering dark piece that's heavier on style than substance, but it all works.
06/12/06
A few scenes into the gloom and you’ll have a good idea what is generally up, if not the specifics, making the journey toward the eventual, inevitable twist fairly one-dimensional.
04/01/06
One can’t deny the dubious appeal of the spectacle of the skin-and-bone Bale, quite possibly endangering his health for the sake of his art.
02/09/06
An absorbing and eerie study of paranoia and psychological torment.
12/29/05
Kosar has ... constructed an exercise in existentialism that is so literal it’s a true feat that he was able to reign it all back in for the somewhat tidy ending of this film.
12/06/05
It's like a film the Coen Brothers would have made, back when they still made good movies.
08/22/05
replacing phrase "going De Niro" with the phrase "going Bale" in many vocabularies
07/12/05
Anderson's use of lighting, editing, sound design, and score hit just the right nerve endings, creating a film that keeps turning over in your mental gears for days afterward.
06/20/05
Some 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
A chance for Bale to show off his new lean look for what the filmmaker mistakenly thinks is art.
06/07/05
A gimmick with no real payoff.
05/04/05
Christian Bale gives his best by giving less in this nightmare tale of a machinist who is one tool short of the full set.
03/26/05
The performances are nothing short of superb - Bale's skeletal form alone is likely to be the most haunting visual image of the year.
03/19/05
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