No doubt it will have its fans - even if just for Christian Bale

Rating: 6/10 (27 August 2004)

A good film - just not one that I personally could feel strongly about. It's one of those 'what's it about??' movies - like Sixth Sense or Memento. It does a reasonably good job of keeping you guessing till the very end with Christian bale doing an excellent wasted, ribs-sticking-out, anorexic look. He works as a tool operator in a factory and believes everyone's out to get him as events seem to conspire against him. Shot in moody, bleached bluish tones and with some fabulously atmospheric scenes (such as when he takes a young boy on a '666 ride' ghost train at the local fair), Machinist will probably be a hit but by the time the explanation came I was personally no longer interested and didn't think it justified the story anyway.