THE MACHINIST
4 out of 5 stars

i don't know what's more scarier: the creepiness of this movie or the fact that christian bale lost more than 120 lbs. to portray the skeletal character, trevor reznik AKA the main protagonist in this... :P



so, who is trevor reznik? he's an... industrial machine operator, and he hasn't slept in a year... in fact, his insomnia is soooo bad that it's affecting his health as well as his mental state. he's in a so-called "relationship" with a call girl named stevie, and even she is concerned about trevor's weight problem. (there's one scene where he flexes his "muscles" and it's a sight that will make one flinch!) one day, he goes out on a smoke break outside of the factory, and finds a strange new guy chatting away. he finds out that he's a new guy working @ the factory, and his name is ivan. of course, things go from weird to worse when upon a moment of distraction, trevor causes a machine to turn on and it severs off his co-worker's arm! purely an accident, but an accident caused by trevor, nonetheless... his mind really starts to go bonkers when he finds cryptic puzzling post-its on his fridge with a hang-man game and 6 little lines for the 6 missing letters...


an interesting storyline about how one man struggles to block out the truth to who he is, and i love how it's done in a film-noir-ish style. i'm not too familiar with brad anderson (the director)'s work, but given this film...i really like it, and would want to see other stuff by him. (FYI: he directs FRINGE...that sci-fi show on fox!) christian bale went through extremes to create trevor reznik and boy....does it show through the weight loss, the craziness and his acting. he really makes this film GOOD. guilt really fucks this guy over, and it sure takes you on one hell of a ride with the mystery of trevor reznik... ;)