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 Sometimes,
an actor will take drastic measures to be convincing in a performance,
even if it means undergoing an incredible physical transformation
to do it. Just witness Tom Hanks, who lost around 60 pounds to
portray a stranded plane crash survivor in “Cast Away.” Or check
out Robert De Niro, who famously packed on some serious weight
to play both Jake La Motta in “Raging Bull” and Al Capone in “The
Untouchables.”
Amazingly, those performances
pale in comparison to Christian Bale’s portrayal of a paranoid
insomniac in “The Machinist.” After buffing up to play Patrick
Bateman in 2000’s controversial “American Psycho,” Bale sheds
it all and then some -- an astonishing 63 pounds from his already
svelte frame -- and from the moment he appears on the screen,
you will not believe your eyes. With his eyes sunk into his head,
veins popping out all over his body and his ribcage exposed in
excruciating detail, he’s quite literally a shell of a man.
But was it all worth
it? I mean, we are talking about a movie here, and no movie is
worth starving yourself to the point where you put your health
at risk. Regardless, there’s no denying that Bale’s disturbing
level of commitment adds an incredible amount of tension to an
already engrossing, ominously shot and well-acted psychological
thriller that ends with a killer payoff.
Trevor Reznick (Christian
Bale) hasn’t slept in more than a year, and every waking minute
is an unrelenting nightmare of confusion, guilt and anxiety. Trevor’s
frail state is having dire consequences on his job at an industrial
factory, which takes a devastating turn for the worst when a freak
accident costs a fellow co-worker (Michael Ironside) his arm.
But is Trevor going insane? And why does he keep finding cryptic
notes on his refrigerator? Who is the mysterious bald-headed figure
(John Sharian) who keeps antagonizing him at every turn? Why does
the clock always say 1:30? An exhausted Trevor will stop at nothing
to answer these questions, but he is in for a rude awakening when
he discovers the shocking truth about his destiny.
Once you get past
Bale’s appearance (if that’s possible), you’ll find that director
Brad Anderson (“Next Stop Wonderland,” “Session 9”) and screenwriter
Scott Kosar (the remake of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”) have
crafted a finely detailed thriller that gets under your skin.
The cinematography is dark and metallic, with most of the colors
faded to the point where it almost feels like a black-and-white
film. Anderson also makes effective use of Roque Banos' Bernard
Herrmann-inspired musical score, which gives the film a Hitchcockian
edge and a mysterious, otherworldly vibe. The only problem is
that the surprise ending may not be all that surprising to anyone
who’s seen “Fight Club,” and Bale’s tiny frame is so jarring that
it tends to be distracting from the rest of the film.
Given how
deathly ill he looks (and probably felt while making the movie),
Bale could easily have been forgiven if he just showed up for
work, delivered his lines and called it a day. But amazingly,
he still manages to give a strong performance that balances insanity,
desperation and sympathy. He’s also backed by a solid supporting
cast that includes Jennifer Jason Leigh as a hooker with a heart
of gold and Michael Ironside as the tough co-worker who finds
himself on the wrong end of a factory machine.
The fact that Bale
would put himself through the wringer like this makes him either
the most committed actor of his generation or just out of his
friggin’ mind. Either way, it’s one for the books, and given how
much he’s thrown himself into every role since starring in Steven
Spielberg’s under-rated 1987 epic “Empire of the Sun,” it certainly
bodes well that he’s been entrusted with the keys to the Batmobile
in next summer’s “Batman Begins.” Even so, here’s hoping that
Bale doesn’t take his role as the Caped Crusader nearly as seriously
as he did here!
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