An intense, precision-controlled psychological mystery built around a very creepy lead performance by Christian Bale.
50
L.A. Weekly
L.A. Weekly
In a way, though, it’s all Bale's show. Withering down to an alarming 120 pounds, he delivers a deeply obsessed performance that leaves us both fascinated and sickened.
42
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Bale exists all too large under the circumstances, a well-fed actor playing at emaciation for the sake of a fiction about a character whose torment is as unreadable as his vertebrae are countable.
40
Village VoiceDennis Lim
Village VoiceDennis Lim
The Machinist has no meat on its bones, and we've seen it all before.
30
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Unrelentingly dreary, and seemingly destined to be remembered, if at all, as that movie Christian Bale lost a full third of his body weight for. It doesn't deserve any better.