Satisfactory ending.

Rating: 8/10 (11 March 2007)

Christian Bale played a factory worker, Trevor Reznik, who suffered from insomnia and became paranoid that a new worker might have conspiratorially done something against him.
On the surface, the movie came across as a psychological thriller; but it was, in fact about someone who became conscience-stricken as a result of what he had done in the past. The movie, in the end, provided a satisfactory explanation why Trevor turned into such a sleepless, hunted zombie walker but, be that as it may, the Machinist, as a whole, was not that peerless.
Despite giving a good twist, there were not enough engaging scenes. The whole movie, indeed, did not catch my imagination much; seeing that I could speculate at an early stage, that it would eventually arrive at an understandable conclusion. As a matter of fact, it was a bit insipid. I wish the movie had delivered some spine-tingling moments. While I was watching a bony Christian Bale performing his role skittishly, I felt that the director could have advised him to be a bit spookier.
Bale, however, gave quite a good performance. He was convincing in his character. I felt like I was watching a real psycho, weirdo person. He successfully held the entire movie together. His body in this movie was believably anorectic. I thought he was going to die from a heart attack as a consequence of losing such a lot of weight. His dedication to the character was commendable.
This movie managed to set itself apart from other typical psycho thriller movies because of its twisted result. It also sent out a message of taking responsibility for your own action. Any decent human being cannot avoid being assaulted by waves of guilt. Forcing yourself to forget your bad deeds is not the right way to sort out a sense of despair. You, in the end, could a lot suffer from them in terms of physicality and mentality.
The Machinist is in every way a well-made movie, particularly for a movie goer who is interested in more than just a usual psychodrama.