The Machinist: Visually interesting but disconnected plot

Defines of the word "commitment", in the context of acting, in what is otherwise a barely entertaining picture, filled with clichés.

The Machinist is a great display of Bale's ability, but lacks as a movie

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The Machinist is unsettling and intriguing but its plot is quite disconnected and "all over the place". The whole movie seems to be a large first act, setting up, but lacking development, only to end with very little payoff. I understand the concept behind the movie's structure, with its almost banal ending, as it wants to remove the aspiring grandiosity from the plot, and bring it down to Earth, but it turns out to just leave you disappointed, as the core of the story is actually quite underwhelming. [...]