The Machinist

Paramount Classics | Release Date: October 22, 2004

8.6	USER SCORE Universal acclaim based on 473 Ratings

USER RATING DISTRIBUTION

Watch Now

Stream On

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Review this movie

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Please sign in or create an account before writing a review.

Check box if your review contains spoilers

0 characters (5000 max)

User Reviews

User score By date Most helpful

HalifaxR.Feb 28, 2006

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 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. Everyone'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

1 of 1 users found this helpful

KenRSep 3, 2018

The Machinist is yet another movie that looks stylish, is well acted, offers an intriguing plot - then goes on to begin looking overly familiar. It’s obvious the filmmakers had an admiration for Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’, Polanski, Kubrick,(etc),The Machinist is yet another movie that looks stylish, is well acted, offers an intriguing plot - then goes on to begin looking overly familiar. It’s obvious the filmmakers had an admiration for Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’, Polanski, Kubrick,(etc), and that’s OK, but to then re-invent something that you-wish-you-had-made is little more than a form of plagiarism. There needs to be more than look-a-like characters, borrowed writing and directorial touches, similar musical tonality and photographic touches – there simply needs to be more ‘originality’ for anything creative to be regarded as genuine involving art. The fact that lead performer Christian Bale, starved himself to the point of illness for this role is, dedicated to his craft, yes -but also pointlessly (and foolishly) over the top. The addition of the moviemakers (and writers) obsession with oral sex offered absolutely nothing to the main plot, so why? This work goes on to offer up one gross situation following another --for the sake of crude shock value--lacking true artistic integrity. Great (or even good) work - needs more than style and look alike value to be fully deserving of any worthy respect. An interesting try but, an overall fail. Lovers of ‘downers’ will be close to the only audience attracted to this ugly, overreaching morbidity.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

All this user's reviews

RealityReviewsApr 23, 2022

Just a bad movie! Slow and stupid. And bad move by a actor to jeopardize his health to play make pretend for a 90 min “movie”. Do yourself a favor and watch something entertaining. Not this train wreck!

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

All this user's reviews

PrintninjaDec 1, 2005

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" 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

0 of 0 users found this helpful