The Machinist
Cast: Christian Bale
The good: Christian Bale
The bad: no impact whatsoever
If you were asked by the director to lose half of your weight in order to play a role, would you do it? Well, that is what Christian Bale did to play Trevor Reznik, an insomniac who hasn’t slept for more than a year. Why hasn’t he slept? The movie tries to explain…
Going back to Christian Bale’s uber-passionate (or ridiculous, you be the judge) dedication to his craft, he indeed lost over half his weight so that he may appear almost like a skeleton of his original self. Take note that his role in this film preceded his portrayal of Batman in the recent hit Batman Begins, and considering his muscular stature in that film, it’s amazing the tenacity of this guy. But all these things aside, his physical appearance is actually one of the film’s only highlights. Perhaps without the scarily horrific appearance of Bale, the film wouldn’t be half as effective in telling its story.
Not that the story is any effective, really. The Machinist is basically a suspense/thriller about Trevor who may or may not be the subject of a conspiracy. You see, things start getting out of the ordinary and pretty soon, Trevor finds himself trapped in a world where everything doesn’t seem as they appear. Of course, this premise is ruined by the hugely flawed directorial effort. Even at its early stages, the “plot” becomes obvious and by movie’s end, where everything is given light, I already became disinterested.
Too bad, because Christian Bale went to such great lengths in order to breathe more life in this film. If it had been me who lost half of my weight and starred in this movie, then I may not have gained back the weight I lost. (2/5)
The good: Christian Bale
The bad: no impact whatsoever
If you were asked by the director to lose half of your weight in order to play a role, would you do it? Well, that is what Christian Bale did to play Trevor Reznik, an insomniac who hasn’t slept for more than a year. Why hasn’t he slept? The movie tries to explain…
Going back to Christian Bale’s uber-passionate (or ridiculous, you be the judge) dedication to his craft, he indeed lost over half his weight so that he may appear almost like a skeleton of his original self. Take note that his role in this film preceded his portrayal of Batman in the recent hit Batman Begins, and considering his muscular stature in that film, it’s amazing the tenacity of this guy. But all these things aside, his physical appearance is actually one of the film’s only highlights. Perhaps without the scarily horrific appearance of Bale, the film wouldn’t be half as effective in telling its story.
Not that the story is any effective, really. The Machinist is basically a suspense/thriller about Trevor who may or may not be the subject of a conspiracy. You see, things start getting out of the ordinary and pretty soon, Trevor finds himself trapped in a world where everything doesn’t seem as they appear. Of course, this premise is ruined by the hugely flawed directorial effort. Even at its early stages, the “plot” becomes obvious and by movie’s end, where everything is given light, I already became disinterested.
Too bad, because Christian Bale went to such great lengths in order to breathe more life in this film. If it had been me who lost half of my weight and starred in this movie, then I may not have gained back the weight I lost. (2/5)
posted by NaCl at Saturday, August 13, 2005
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