Before we get too far into this blog, I must admit a certain bias: I am a Christian Bale fan. That is the primary reason I picked up this little dandy, along with American Pyscho and Equilibrium.

Out of the three, American Pyscho stands as the most disturbing film, with The Machinist taking a close second.

In the film, Bale plays Trevor Reznik, an insomniac who hasn’t slept in over a year. Haunted by his memories, and the lack of sleep, Reznik unintentionally tortures himself to the point where he weighs a whopping 121 pounds.

Ever the method actor, Bale plays Reznik to perfection, making the character sympathetic, while at the same time unnerving. No one quite knows the issues plaguing Reznik until the end of the film, which keeps the viewer engaged in a world caught somewhere between reality and madness.

Howver, the lead up is far more entertaining than the payoff, when we find out the true cause of Reznik’s insomnia. I won’t spoil it for you, but needless to say, it lessens the dark, eery mood created through the film’s earlier scenes.

I often find psychological thrillers as the best kind of movies, primarily because it keeps me on the edge of my seat until the closing credits. The Machinist did that for me with its acting and direction, creating vivid scenes and imagery that could have easily come from the mind of a sleepless man.

Unfortunately, the ‘twist ending’ is very light for the genre. It is very predictable, along with the rest of this choppy script, skipping from dark scene to lighthearted moment and then back again.

Maybe Reznik himself wrote the script. Sleepless nights will do that to you after all.