The Machinist
| release date | October 24 2004 |
| studio | Paramount Classics |
| director | Brad Anderson |
| writer | Scott Kosar |
| starring | Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sánchez-gijón, John Sharian, Michael Ironside |
| rating | R |
| tagline | A little goes a long way.. |
| site | machinistmovie.com |
| trailer 1 | Trailer #1 |
2 Comments
Not really good, not really bad
Before I saw The Machinist, if you asked me what the most predictable/pointless movie I have ever seen was, I’d most likely say A Beautiful Mind. Now that I have seen The Machinist, it easily takes that #1 most predictable, cliché, pointless rank because it IS–no one can argue this, it IS–A Beautiful Mind with a little less cheese, a little better lighting. To top it off, A Beautiful Mind was cliché and predictable when it came out, but The Machinist came out AFTER it.
According to cheap Hollywood, the detention of “physiological thriller” is as follows: a movie with a main character who has some sort of mental disability (but is smart), and then “weird” things happen (which can be copy/pasted from episodes of The Twilight Zone if you have no idea how to be original) in his daily life, only to find out that everything weird was in his mind. For “daring” directors, this could include the use of a murder that the character thinks his imaginary friend committed, but it was really him. If you still cannot think of a plot for yourself, just take the script from movies like A Beautiful Mind, Fight Club, Sev7n, etc., and copy it wholesale and change the character’s names. Also, as a side note, a physiological thriller cannot be based on anything but multiple personalities and/or pink elephants–anything more original than that means your film will be destroyed by the critics and it will be too intelligent for the audience to understand.
The paragraph above also doubles as the plot for The Machinist. Normal life, weird (cliché) stuff happens, main character finds out it’s all in his head, end of movie. Can people just get over it already? If you didn’t find The Machinist predictable and understand every “twist” before they were revealed, walking down the street to get a cup of coffee must be insanely surprising to you.
On a technical level, the film was flawless. Great atmosphere and directing. Pretty good acting from Christian Bale, and far superior to the acting in the films this movie rips-off. That’s the only thing I can complement.
The movie itself moves along at the slowest pace humanly possible. Boring daily life has never seen so much screen time. To call The Machinist boring is an understatement. I personally fell asleep around the middle of it and when I woke up I simply could not finish it until the next day. Nothing was happening, and in the end, nothing happens. There was not a single thrilling moment in the movie, no matter how much the raised volume of the annoying classical score wants to suggest.
Some people are trying to say the film is great because of the moral value the ending suggests, but, really, it is nothing special or life changing. I can see a lot of people not even noticing that it tries to be moral with a positive ending.
The Machinist in the end is a waste of time. I wanted so badly to like this movie, and I did for the first hour or so–up until it turned to the most cliché movie I have ever personally seen. The movie would have benefited so much if it kept the same beginning, same ending, but just got rid of the clichéd “mystery” that was no more mysterious than an episode of Scooby Doo. The Machinist is a copy of a copy. Maybe I’m the only one out there who is sick of movies like this, but, I’m sorry to say, this was pathetic.
I really enjoyed this movie. I thought they showed the decline of Reznick’s mental state very well. Granted, I think it was pretty obvious that Ivan was the personification of the mental illness Reznick was suffering from but it was still a good movie. I would recommend it to anyone.
An amazing thriller, I loved everything about this. I loved how it was all about paranoia and everything slowly takes shape.
this movie was good. i won’t say the most orginal but since it is handeld well it works. worth checking out.
no matter what they say about Christian Bale I like his movies and I enjoy this one also….its a good one to watch.
Awesome movie one of my favourite psychological thrillers. Christian Bale is great in this.
a pretty good thriller with a very disturbingly thin Christian Bale. I actually liked Brad Anderson’s later film transsiberian more, but if you like pscychological thrillers, give it a whirl.
good movie,but not great.
very good movie! Love that Christian Bale would go through the trouble of losing all that weight to make it more realistic.
This is by far Christian Bales best performance ever. I cant believe he lost all that weight, I mean you could literally see his skull outline and every one of his ribs. This movie is a total mind fuck. Absolutely loved it. Go see it now.
masterpiece
The Machinist is waaaaaay better than the back of the DVD case reads. Christian Bale puts in a great performance as a man who finds his mundane life slowly unraveling. Bale looks frightening as a walking skeleton called Trevor Reznik. No f/x here, he dropped a shitload of weight for the filming. He probably weighs less than 120 pounds. You can count his vertebra and ribs; his head looks like a skull with skin stretched over it and hollowed out eyes.
Reznik becomes increasingly confused as does the viewer; until he doesn’t know which way is up. His shocking appearance causes problems with his employer who believes he is on drugs. He begins talking to people who others in his life claim are not real. His personality change causes problems with his co-workers and a prostitute he hangs out with.
This one had me stumped until the reveal at the end. A very good film.
A very thought producing movie. I liked it but felt it was a little bit drawn out for my tastes.
Christian Bale’s performance in this movie was amazing, I repeat, amazing. If anything watch it for him.
really good movie
Haunting and Original.Christian Bale was brilliant.The physical demand of the weight he took off for the role had to be rough as hell.It’s a slow build with a great payoff.Great cast,plot,dialogue,and acting.Give it a watch.
now this is really good.the ghost train scene is brilliant.
the trouble he had to make this movie it payed off big time thou great movie
Christian Bale should have won an oscar for his physical ability to loose the needed weight to sell the role and not die. It has it’s merits, it is engaging, but it leaves you a little disappointed at the end.
Christian Bale gives an impressive performance in this film, not only his performance but also the story is very original and well told. very interesting.
With good psychological elements and paranoids.
If you have not seen this movie, you missed a good option.
not a horror. Still a good psychological thriller though. Great twist. I love Bale, he’s freaking awesome.