177 out of 187 people found the following review helpful:

Cult Classic!

Alistair McFarlane from Leeds, England, 25th March, 2005

Christian Bale looking his worst and acting at his best. If you like films that make you think, then this film is awesome and not to be missed. Though it's sinistercism will mean it's not everybones cup of tea. Scarred throughout with an underlying dark feel to it. The machinist takes you into the mind of Bale's charachter Trevor who suffers from extreme insomnia. As the film progresses it allows you and Trevor to simultaneously unravel the trail of clues leading to the cause of his insomnia. The backdrop of the average dull toned town that he lives in adds even more realism to this must see film.

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52 out of 62 people found the following review helpful:

Fantastic!

Amichaelglg from Surrey, 2nd May, 2005

This was one of the BEST films I have seen for a very very long time. Although the previous post said it was predicatble...Well, it is like saying The Sixth Sense was predicatble !
If you have similar tastes to me and loved Gladiator, The Sixth Sense, Butterfly Effect, Assault On Precinct 13, The Notebook, and many others that don't initially spring to mind then you must SEE this film. I just cannot praise it highly enough !

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47 out of 58 people found the following review helpful:

A movie that will make you think.

Felicity from Horsham, West Sussex, 9th April, 2005

This is a truly wonderful and scary movie. Christian Bale looks scarier even than his character in American Psycho, yet this has to be his best role to date. This film will keep you guessing until the end.

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35 out of 39 people found the following review helpful:

Intriguing, infuriating insomniac

ATfilmcritic from London, 17th March, 2005

Chilling, compelling psychological mystery, which, despite a mostly predictable denouement, remains gripping and disturbing from beginning to end; and the incohesive whole is driven fiercely by Bale’s astonishing commitment.

His ferocious, powerful performance should be marked down as one of the greatest human achievements in cinema- starved down to an unrecognizable bare-bones of a person (“If you were any thinner…you wouldn’t exist”), Bale’s extraordinary feat of losing 63 pounds, transforming his usual muscular self into a skeletal ghost, is the greatest physical weight loss in film history. His dedication shows, and ultimately lifts the film from mediocrity.

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good (ish)...

secretsofvoodoo from , 9th October, 2009

A solid, well acted film that somehow doesn't quite soar the way it should. Christian Bale is excellent as ever, but looks terrible, skeletally thin - bit disappointing if, like me, you fancy him as he definitely does not look hot in this film. The grey, bleak look of the film is well done and the alienating non-specific time and place. Not sure why this film didn't grab me entirely as it had all the elements to grab me but somehow it didn't. Relatively worth watching though...

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Pointless film

Lin6663 from , 5th October, 2009

Do not waste your time watching this pointless and dreary film. It's the pits - the character may have suffered from insomnia but I guarantee anyone who watches it will find it nigh on impossible to stay awake!!

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The Machinist

Debbie1983 from , 22nd August, 2009

Quirky and Interesting but not a movie to watch when tired.

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Extreme dieting!

Shamrock1 from , 20th August, 2009

I'd recommend this film for those of you who enjoyed Guy Pearce's amazing performance as the lead in Momento. The Machinist has similarities, suburb performances, bleak and dark with a great ending. Worth renting!

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