A Superbly Dark Hitchcockian Thriller

Rating: 9/10 (9 July 2006)

What a movie! The Machinist is a very dark Hitchcockian thriller that packs a real punch, is there any role that Christian Bale can't do? The guy sweats blood for a role like Trevor Reznik and is barely mentioned for an Oscar! He gave everything to this role and will definitely get an Oscar sometime in the near future for the personal sacrifices he makes for his parts. He lost about 6 stone for this and gained 7 for Batman Begins - now that's dedication! The Twist at the end can be spotted earlier but if you go with the intention of getting a kick out of it just go with the flow and paranoia of the movie and you'll love it. Dark thrillers don't come much better than this and Brad Anderson directs with much style and class. Bale is brilliant, ably supported by the stunning Aiton Sanchez-Gijon as the female interest/link, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Ironside ( who keeps losing arms in film roles! Total Recall!) and John Sharian as Ivan, who plays the best alter ego role of recent times. Also the settings are superb as the production was filmed in Barcelona and made to look like L.A. and the music by Roque Bannos is suitably very creepy and gives the movie a gritty, moody edge.