Review of The Machinist (2004) by Tilldog T — 11 Jul 2011

Imagining this film's inception as anything other than ordinary would be a mistake; nevertheless, after watching it, one can't help but imagine that the pitch went something like this: "So, we're going to take a psychological thriller and strip it down to its most basic elements without a shred of originality, and to pull in the audience, we'll attach a star and give it an ominous title.".

To say the main character's occupation, ominously handled in the film's title, is insignificant is about the biggest understatement one could make about this film. He's a machinist... so what? He works in a machine shop, knows what he's doing, and that's it, other than an excuse for a few random moments of extreme violence and useless tension.

To say this is hubris speaks volumes about the rest of the film; what's the meaning of the relationship with his boss? His hooker? His landlord? Character questions are still more pertinent: Why is he so skinny? What does his daily routine and job have to do with anything else?

Even though Brad Anderson doesn't write the scripts, he's established something of a specialty for selecting material full of boring cliches. Granted, he is talented enough to elevate the material, but these talents always go to waste.

The less said about the script, the better. Along with the aforementioned shortfalls, it's loaded with the type of crummy foreshadowing and 'aha' moments to which audiences are, unfortunately, still not immune.

Christian Bale is the only reason to watch this movie. Despite the fact that his physical transformation, though impressive, hardly seems necessary, he owns the entire movie because he's the kind of actor who can pull this sort of descent off. Of course he can't carry a movie with a script this bad, but watching him try is literally the only thing keeping this a conversation topic amongst filmgoers, so unless you're a die-hard Bale fan who can't bare to miss one of his efforts, you're better off not wasting your time.