2. American Psycho (2000)
Bales Character: Patrick Bateman American Psycho was undoubtedly the lit fuse that exploded Bale into A-list mainstream consciousness, and was probably one of the major factors in influencing Nolans decision to cast him as Bruce Wayne/ Batman. Both Bateman and Wayne are successful, wealthy businessmen and both are hiding dark secrets that they cant possibly share with the world. Based on the book of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis, Bale leads American Psycho expertly as Patrick Bateman, who slices, dices, severs and chainsaws his way through the plot with unsettling black-hole madness in his eyes the entire time. Yet even with such dark subject matter, Bale manages to mine healthy helpings of stone-cold deadpan humour even with horrifying revelations like I like to dissect girls. Did you know Im utterly insane? American Psycho is both a vital and insanely gratuitous tale about the dangers of hollow obsession and just one more log on the fire that is the list of Christian Bales mind blowing performances.