Crime and Punishment

Rating: Null/10 (27 November 2004)

The Dostoevsky reference was not a throw away. if you know or look up the story of Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment before seeing the movie you will enjoy this homage much more.
Like the Russian classic, this is a tale about the inexorable and disfiguring load of guilt, making it as real as Seven did with the concept of sin. In both movies we see graphically that those are much more than just philosophical categories -- they warp who we are as human beings, in the case of the Machinist both figuratively and literally.
The Machinist is similar in mood and storytelling style to Momento but that is really where the comparison should stop. I actually prefer the Machinist, because it is much more than just entertaining -- it had something to say.