Disappointed. Again.

Rating: 6/10 (17 March 2006)

It's becoming more and more frequent that a split personality type mystery leaves me feeling cheated. Film-makers now need to realise that audiences can spot this device so easily now that the final 80% of most films is simply filler until the audience is shown to be right.
In it's defense, the Machinist never really attempts to keep up the pretense that it's trying to trick the viewer. From fairly early on it's apparent that not all is as it seems in Trevor's world and we are left to try and figure out exactly why. To be honest, we never stood a chance. And that's a bad thing.
Christian Bale has already proved himself one of the finest actors of his generation, showing his range in films as diverse as "All the Little Animals" and "American Psycho". Here he strikes a memorable figure, losing I don't know how much weight, and creates a character that at times is difficult to watch. He manages to produce a performance that is just vacant enough to be believable without ever slipping into parody. If only he could choose the right scripts.
Bale was good. There was a definite eerie quality about the film. Jennifer Jason Leigh was in it. Those are the good points.
We all know the bad points. And we all knew them before we watched it.