A great performance by Bale but a film you'll probably need to see twice to get everything

Rating: 7/10 (16 April 2011)

A psychological drama in which Christian Bale works as a machinist with very heavy and dangerous machines. He suffers insomnia and hasn't been able to sleep for the past year. He has a relationship with a hooker who he has slowly become more and more attached to. There is an accident at the start of the movie in which a co worker is maimed because of Christian Bales negligence. This sets off the mystery in which Christian Bale tries to figure out who the mysterious character is who distracted him at work and also who keeps leaving him mysterious notes in his apartment.
This is probably the best performance I've seen from Christian Bale so far and for that you should definitely watch this film. It was quite difficult to figure out the ending so as a mystery film it definitely succeeded.
However there just feels like something is off to this film. It might be that none of the other performances from the other characters really shined. Also the music at times was a bit overwhelming and was probably too much of a distraction. A lot of the film felt eerie but not in the ways in which it should have. Also some of the mystery in the film leaves you quite puzzled and you'd probably have to watch it at least twice to put everything together. Also the production value felt very low budget, making the world slightly unbelievable.
Splitting the main characters interest between two female characters also was a bit disconcerting. At the end of the film you find out why it happens but it leaves you feeling a bit cheated.
It's a great story and Christian Bale is superb but there are just a couple things holding it back from rising above a 7 out of 10.