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.
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins
Genre: Dramas
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
Reviews for The Machinist
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 3/5 |
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. Full Review |
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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. Full Review |
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4/5 |
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 |
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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 |
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3/5 |
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 |
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4/5 |
Anderson struggles to maintain an emotional connection, but he crafts a remarkably sure-handed little thriller. Full Review |
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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. Full Review |
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4/4 |
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. Full Review |
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Here, shorn of every ounce of body fat, Bale is laid open like an autopsy specimen, and he easily gives his best performance. Full Review |
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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. Full Review |
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4/5 |
Um angustiante pesadelo que, trazendo Bale numa performance corajosa e repleta de auto-sacrifício, funciona como um estudo poético sobre os extremos da culpa.
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3/5 |
full review in Greek Full Review |
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2/4 |
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. Full Review |
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It's a somber, sometimes slow-slithering dark piece that's heavier on style than substance, but it all works. Full Review |
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3.75/4 |
An absorbing and eerie study of paranoia and psychological torment. Full Review |
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4/5 |
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. Full Review |
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8/10 |
It's like a film the Coen Brothers would have made, back when they still made good movies. Full Review |
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6/10 |
replacing phrase "going De Niro" with the phrase "going Bale" in many vocabularies Full Review |
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5/5 |
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. Full Review |
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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. Full Review |
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