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Movie:		9.0
Picture:		8.0
Sound:		8.0
Extras:		7.0
Score:		8.0

Director(s):	Brad Anderson
Writer(s):	Scott Kosar
Starring:	Christian Bale • Jennifer Jason Leigh • Aitana Sanchez-Gijon • John Sharian • Michael Ironside
Genre:	Drama • Thriller
Website:	http://www.paramount.com/homeentertainment
Release Date:	May 19, 2009
Rated:

List Price:	Blu-ray - $19.99
Amazon:

The Machinist will fool you. As all of the cogs of the plot click into place, you’ll begin to understand what’s happening on the surface, but you’ll have no idea what’s occurring underneath – what’s waiting to surprise you. Just when you’ve decoded all of the cryptic messages on the surface of the film, the surprise ending wipes it all away to reveal what was really going on. It’s the kind of revelation that film geeks reserve for their praise of Se7en and The Usual Suspects – and yet, The Machinist hasn’t received nearly as much press or fanfare. Yes, it does deserve it.

It’s been one year since Trevor Reznik (Christian Bale) last slept. As his body wastes away, his mind threatens to follow suit. His job performance decreases. He suffers from intense bouts of paranoia and anxiety. He’s even begun to hallucinate. His manic fears receive fuel from a sticky note someone has left on his refrigerator – it’s a game of hangman with the letters filling in each day. Is he being watched? Is the game a cruel trick on his failing senses? Trevor drifts like a ghost between the days at work and the nights spent with Stevie (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a prostitute who seems to be his soul’s last refuge. The days wear on and Trevor’s mental status only worsens with vivid memories of events he isn’t sure he dreamt up or has actually done. Trevor’s condition, accidents at work, a mysterious car and increasing paranoia reach a paramount of mania until the memories come flooding back in an ending you never saw coming.

Many films attempt to pull of the revelatory twist ending with loud fanfare and a self-congratulatory smirk. Twist jockeys like M. Night Shyamalan base their entire films on the audience being so overwhelmed by the surprise that they forgive the weak setup leading to them. Not The Machinist. The intense focus on the character and his deterioration create the incredible realization at the ending – not vice versa. Were you to strip away the ending and leave the film’s final scene at the bottom of Trevor’s spiral it would still be a complete film. We’d be left wondering who left the notes and what happened to Trevor, but the film would have featured a fully fleshed out character with a life and story independent of a show-stopping surprise. In many ways, the prestige of The Machinist comes not from the story’s unexpected twist, but from its addition as a part and not the sum.

Christian Bale possesses a dedication to his work unrivaled by most of the actors working today. It’s one thing to bulk up to play a heroic figure; it’s another altogether to lose 62 pounds by consuming nothing but an apple and a cup of coffee each day to play an emaciated insomniac. While Christian Bale can sometimes come across as a monotone actor, with Trevor Reznik you’d never notice. The character is nothing but the shell of a man which Bale inhabits expertly. You can praise Bale for his work on American Psycho or Batman Begins, but until you’ve seen his performance in The Machinist you don’t know the man’s best work.

There’s nothing like seeing a man’s skeleton poking through his skin in high-definition. The film’s mixture of dim lighting and overexposure make for a nice visual display. There’s a little bleeding here and there, but overall the film quality is excellent.

Blu-ray Bonus Features

Skip over the theatrical trailer and, for the love of God don’t watch the deleted scenes until you’ve finished the film as they give away just a little too much. After you’ve watched the film and have had your mind blown, go back through with the audio commentary with director Brad Anderson to listen to all of the interesting tidbits about the film like the overarching Dostoevsky influence. Here’s where you can learn about Bale’s transformation as well as the choices made to obscure the film’s hidden truths for as long as possible. On that note, there are three featurettes covering a range of topics – one of which is the placement of clues in the film and how it was decided to reveal each one. “Manifesting the Machinist” and “The Machinist: Breaking the Rules” detail the character’s neuroses and discuss in depth what Bale and Anderson went through to create such a twisted tale.