Bale is Trevor Reznik. Trevor cannot sleep. Nor does he seem to eat, either. He works in a rather unpleasant looking sweatshop of a factory and seems to spend his free time with either “tart-with-a-heart” Stevie (Jennifer Jason Leigh) or airport diner waitress, Maria (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon).

After an encounter with new worker, Ivan (John Sharian) he is distracted from his work and a fellow worker (Michael Ironside) gets his arm caught in a machine. From then onwards everything in Trevor’s life seems to go rapidly downhill as someone keeps leaving post-it notes of the word game, Hangman on his fridge door and he is left wondering who he can trust.

Bale seems to have a knack for picking different roles and this echoes his last notable performance in American Psycho. He looks so thin at times that he might literally faint from hunger. Unfortunately, that is the only original thing going for it and audience members might find themselves getting a sense of deja-vu. Still, Bale is very watchable and Leigh is passable as the prostitute who wants to get out of town. It’s worth taking a look at.
(3/5)

Release Date: 01 August 2005

The Machinist