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The Machinist is a great movie and another shining example that Brad Anderson, though he only has two genre entries under his belt, is a beast in the ring. The man doesn't have just an eye for creating a slick, decadent and morbid world, he has a sixth sense for it.
Of course the first thing people will talk about when they talk about this movie is Christian Bale and the weight he lost. Seeing the trailers, you're impressed, but watching the movie is an entirely different experience. He pulled off something here that is just freightening to watch. You can practically see the outlines of organs jutting through his stretched skin. It is delightfully sick. But getting past just the shock of seeing a human being living a daily life with such an extreme deficency, Bale gives one helluva performance here. It isn't just aided by the wow factor of his look, he does a damn fine job of assembling together a tortured soul who doesn't think he is all that tortured and is perfectly accepting of the life he lives. And the supporting actors are fantastic as well. I always love Michael Ironside and while he doesn't get a boatload of screen time, just seeing him in a movie makes me smilel.
His battle with insomnia and the resulting events in the film, especially the ending's revelation of everything, isn't an entirely new arena of plot and has themes visited several times recently, but don't lump it in with jumping on the bandwagon of memory loss films, Scott Kosar first wrote the screenplay for this film almost a decade ago...
It's a fantastic movie. A lot of people may find fault with the pacing of it - this movie doesn't rush anything - but if you've got a brain and the associated patience that comes with it, chances are pretty good you'll enjoy the hell out of it as well.
Of course the first thing people will talk about when they talk about this movie is Christian Bale and the weight he lost. Seeing the trailers, you're impressed, but watching the movie is an entirely different experience. He pulled off something here that is just freightening to watch. You can practically see the outlines of organs jutting through his stretched skin. It is delightfully sick. But getting past just the shock of seeing a human being living a daily life with such an extreme deficency, Bale gives one helluva performance here. It isn't just aided by the wow factor of his look, he does a damn fine job of assembling together a tortured soul who doesn't think he is all that tortured and is perfectly accepting of the life he lives. And the supporting actors are fantastic as well. I always love Michael Ironside and while he doesn't get a boatload of screen time, just seeing him in a movie makes me smilel.
His battle with insomnia and the resulting events in the film, especially the ending's revelation of everything, isn't an entirely new arena of plot and has themes visited several times recently, but don't lump it in with jumping on the bandwagon of memory loss films, Scott Kosar first wrote the screenplay for this film almost a decade ago...
It's a fantastic movie. A lot of people may find fault with the pacing of it - this movie doesn't rush anything - but if you've got a brain and the associated patience that comes with it, chances are pretty good you'll enjoy the hell out of it as well.