The Machinist

[Zooropa]

The Machinist is a psychological puzzler which sees Christian Bale playing Trevor Reznick, a factory worker who, due to insomnia and broken concentration, accidentally causes a colleague to lose an arm. This leads him deeper into paranoia and obsession as he tries to identify a mystery man who is seemingly following him around.

This film is always going to be known for the fact that Bale lost around 4 stones to play the part of the 120lbs Trevor, but that's massively unfair on the script and the performances.

The colour has been drained, and this sets a dark and weary tone throughout. There's a real sense of fatigue and atmosphere about the movie, leaving you totally sympathetic with Trevor.

To explain much more would perhaps ruin the twists, although in fairness it's not the most complex movie - the ending wraps up most of the confusion quite easily, although there are a few unanswered questions left.

I'd highly recommend it....

Click here to read the entire review

[mysterio]

This film did absolutely nothing for me, it needed alot more than some ribs, a chary colour pallate and - dare i say it - JJL's gracefully aged tits.

Final nail in the 'i-dont-rate-christian-bale-as-an-actor' coffin, for me!

Special mention to my first time in the Grosvener cinema though - Couches!

[Jenpot]

The couches that you didn't sit in!

I still disagree, not a very good film but Christian Bale was great in it. He has heart dammit! Art direction was pretty nice too.

[mysterio]

No-one told me it was a dead end, if i went the other way i would've kicked milk in someones face..

[Griever]

Brilliant film.

-spoiler-
I just don't get why his 'alter-ego' is a fat bald guy.

[Foxglove]

One of the best films I have seen this year. I loved the cinemaphotography.

[Kurt Angle]

Crap film, made me feel sick not to mention the fact that my boyfriend kept referring to me as "The Machinist" after we had seen it

[Jenpot]

Gain some weight, I say.

You wouldn't have kicked milk..you crazy sofa-loving fiend.

[Zippy]

Just watched it there, actually really enjoyed it in a 'waste a few hours' kind of way.

As folk have previously said it had some Fight Club and Memento along with 'Leaving Las Vegas' IMO.

[Shannow]

Finally got to see this.

Found it deeply unsettling throughout. Took me a minute to spot Micheal Ironside as well.

Bloody good though. The paranoia was off the scale.

[TheCastrator]

Saw this last night.

To be honest, a bit of a waste of my time.

There are two twists. One is spotted and sussed out by the ten minute mark, and the other is told to you five minutes from the end.

The first twist is terrible because you realise what it is the moment you're supposed to start guessing, and the second is terrible because a) at no point do you get the slow realisation of what's happening, and b) you are so underwhelmed by it that you ask yourself why they even bothered making the film in the first place. My reaction was "Oh. Right. Well, I suppose the previous hour and twenty five minutes fits into that".

There's no way you can guess it. But that makes it pointless. They may as well have said "Oh, it's all because his dad molested him and he's reliving it all as a third person who never existed". It'd fit. Perfectly.

People compare it to Memento, but that's a good film, and it keeps you guessing, and you change how you see the characters, and you're confused inthe same way the main character is, and the end comes in a satisfying, "Ah-ha! I thought it was something like that". If Memento were to be similar, then it'd jumble all the segments up, and the end would be "So, I was hit on the head by a sled...called Rosebud! Dun dun duuuun!"



The acting was alright.

[Posh]

Originally Posted by TheCastrator

There's no way you can guess it. But that makes it pointless.

Umm. I did. And so did a few other people in this thread.

Originally Posted by Hayabusa

I was meant to see 'The Machinst' at the film theatre a few weeks ago but alas the van carrying the film reel crashed on the motorway , so i've unfortunetely had to wait until it's nationwide release. Looking forward to it.

Haha, I forgot about that. Our poor wee gutted faces that day.

[TheCastrator]

Originally Posted by Posh

Umm. I did. And so did a few other people in this thread.

But...how? That's just baffling. There's no lead up to it. No proper clues or ideas or anything of the sort. It just happens. Then you go "Oh...right, well, yeah, I suppose that fits".

[Posh]

I haven't seen the film since 2005 but I remember it being laid on like fucking treacle and that being me and my companions' main gripe afterwards.

Well, that and the fact that Jamie Sett receives no royalties from the blatant use of his likeness for Christian Bale's character.

[Shannow]

Yeah, it wasn't exactly subtle.

Also, i received no royalties for the use of my physique.

[TheCastrator]

Originally Posted by Posh

I haven't seen the film since 2005 but I remember it being laid on like fucking treacle and that being me and my companions' main gripe afterwards.

Bear in mind that I've been trying to forget it since last night, so I am a bit rusty also, but if memory serves, the director laid on the blatantly obvious 'twist'* heavily, but everything else? There was no way you determine that he killed some kid(who was the minor-minor character-child of a minor-minor character) because about five minutes before the end, the 'twist' could be, as I said, that he was molested by his dad as a child and he's reliving it as a person who wasn't really there. Or perhaps something else? Who knows?(Who cares?).

It was arbitrary. It was a "I want to make a film with a twist, so I'll think of something or other" decision.


I shrugged a lot during the film. I simply didn't care.



*They might as well have had him fade into thin air when you first saw him for how obvious it was.