Christian Bale has been labeled as a cinematic chameleon due to his immense attachment and dedication to every role he is given. He is one of the most committed and greatest actors in the film industry and never fails to dazzle audiences with his spectacular performances. Now, I have seen A LOT of Christian Bale films and am a huge fan of his work, so I think he is amazing in every role he tackles. However, there are some films where he goes above and beyond and these are some of his most memorable performances. Ranking them would be way too difficult because each role is so distinctly different from one another and I didn’t want to stress myself out. So, here are eight of the best Christian Bale performances to date and some honorable mentions that did not quite rank in my top eight, but are still noteworthy.

"The Machinist"

This was the first Christian Bale film I ever saw and let me tell you, it is one for the books. Bale plays an insomniac who suffers from hallucinations and psychological issues. I won’t even say any more because this is a film that I would extremely recommend to just see for yourself. To prepare for his role, Bale lost 62 pounds to drop to a total of only 120 pounds in order to really transform into his character. He even wanted to lose more weight, but the director and producers told him he couldn’t, and if you see the film, you'll see why. Bale is so unrecognizable due to his physical transformation as well as how he plays his character, Trevor.

"Empire of the Sun"

This is one Bale performance that not a lot of people may know about, because he was only 12 years old when he played Jim Graham in this World War II-set film centering on Japan’s invasion of China. The film was also directed by Steven Spielberg. I remember reading somewhere how it has and still is hailed as one of the greatest acting performances delivered by a child, which does not surprise me at all. Just by watching the film, it becomes evident that Bale had a very long career ahead of him. It was his first starring role in a film and just watching it makes you think, “How can a child actor be this good?”

"American Psycho"

This is one of the most popular Christian Bale performances, and one that he is so well known for because Patrick Bateman is such an iconic character. Bale takes on his role as an investment banker to the highest degree as he goes on murderous rampages and lives the life of a typical Wall Street yuppie. The way Bale was able to switch so quickly between the businessman Patrick Bateman and the psychotic killer Patrick Bateman is why this will forever be hailed as one of Bale’s top performances. What is even more interesting is how Bale was told by a handful of people that this role would ultimately kill his career and people suggested that he not take it. Good thing he didn’t listen…

"The Dark Knight" trilogy

Although this is technically three films, how does one not include Bale’s performance as Batman as one of his best? Although Bruce Wayne and Batman have and continue to be portrayed by a number of actors as the DC franchise carries on, this generation will always associate Christian Bale as our Batman. Everyone has seen "Batman Begins," "The Dark Knight," and "The Dark Knight Rises," so it’s pretty self-explanatory how incredible Bale is in these films.

"The Big Short"

Having already been nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy category, Bale pulls out another great performance this year in "The Big Short." He plays a hedge fund manager who becomes one of the few men who actually predicted the mortgage housing crisis before it happened in 2007. His characterization of Michael Burry is unrecognizable, and while you are watching the film, you don’t even really think for a second you're watching Christian Bale. His character is very awkward, to say the least. He has a lot of trouble in social situations that stem from an accident he had as a kid where he lost one of his eyes while playing football. He sits in his office blasting rock music and working on his computer with little communication to the outside world. But he's a genius with numbers, which allows him to predict the crisis. Here, Bale once again plays a character he has never portrayed before and does an exceptional job.

"American Hustle"

Again, Bale won a handful of awards playing con man Irving Rosenfeld in this Academy Award-nominated film. Here, he actually gained a significant amount of weight (43 pounds) as opposed to losing it in a number of roles he's done. Physically (as he usually does) he becomes unrecognizable and really becomes his character so perfectly that I kept forgetting while I watched the film that Christian Bale was even in it. What can we say - Bale never disappoints.

"The Fighter"

Christian Bale’s performance as Dicky Eklund is also one of his most popular roles, playing alongside Mark Wahlburg as brothers. He plays a drug addict who formerly trained his brother Micky (Wahlberg) and was a famous boxer himself before his descent into addiction. As usual, Bale lost a significant amount of weight to play Dicky, and the way he pulled off Dicky’s mannerisms and personality was outrageous. He definitely deserved his award for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards that year.

"Rescue Dawn"

This is another Bale role that not too many people are familiar with but I believe was one of his best. Based on a true story, he plays Dieter Dengler, a Navy pilot during the Vietnam War who gets shot down over Laos and is captured and placed in a prison camp. Yet again, Christian Bale physically transformed for this role and was so dedicated to getting into character that in one scene where the men in the prison camp were given worms to eat, Bale made sure that they weren’t fake and he decided to eat real worms during that scene. I would expect nothing less from Christian Bale.

Honorable Mentions

As mentioned before, Christian Bale is extraordinary in every role he has been in, and from the ones I have seen a number of them cannot go unnoticed -- as a result, some honorable mentions as some other great Bale performances were his roles in "Out of the Furnace," "3:10 to Yuma" and "The Prestige." It was honestly hard for me not to just list every film he has ever been a part of right there but these three are great too. If I left out any other noteworthy Bale performances, chances are I haven’t seen them and if so, feel free to let me know because I will never back out of a good Christian Bale film conversation.