The Machinist
Paramount Classics | Release Date: October 22, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
10
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The Hollywood ReporterDuane 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
90
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Psychological suspense at its finest. Read full review
88
New York PostMegan 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
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Bale is totally convincing, if not especially endearing. Read full review
80
Film ThreatDon R. Lewis
The Machinist is so brave and visually impressive, it should demand an audience. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter 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
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
A harrowing experience for those to whom this sort of story appeals. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Bale is brilliant. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack 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
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie 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
75
Chicago TribuneAchy Obejas
A moody psychological thriller with a stunning performance by Christian Bale at its core. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger 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
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick 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
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
An intense, precision-controlled psychological mystery built around a very creepy lead performance by Christian Bale. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Not quite stunning enough to live up to a boldly bleak and unrelenting buildup. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderAndrea 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
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie 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
63
USA TodayMike 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
63
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
63
Miami HeraldRene 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
60
The New York TimesStephen 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
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland 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
60
EmpireIan Nathan
It's a result so painfully logical it would make Lynch's hair stand on end. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianMarc 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
50
L.A. WeeklyKim 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
50
Boston GlobeTy 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
50
Dallas ObserverLuke 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
42
Entertainment WeeklyLisa 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
40
Village VoiceDennis Lim
The Machinist has no meat on its bones, and we've seen it all before. Read full review
40
SalonStephanie 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
38
PremierePeter Debruge
Director Brad Anderson (Session 9) overtly cribs from everyone from Dostoevsky to Kafka. Read full review
30
The A.V. ClubNathan 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
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