It was going to be tough for director Scott Cooper’s to follow up his acclaimed debut Crazy Heart, but it seemed like Out Of The Furnace was as good as any. A good old fashioned revenge flick with a dreamy cast that includes Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Sam Shepard, Willem Dafoe, Forest Whitaker, and Zoe Saldana. Going into it, I had quite high hopes. While the promise of the cast delivers, the film itself is a mixed bag. At times it was tense and gripping, but other times I felt underwhelmed with hopes that the movie could have been so much more.
Out Of The Furnace is co-written by Cooper along with Brad Ingelsby. It tells the tale of the Baze brothers, Russell (Christian Bale) and Rodney (Casey Affleck). Russell works at a local steel mill just like his father did. Rodney is a troubled veteran who has trouble adapting back to life at home. They live in a small town inside of North Braddock, Pennslyvania, and the grittiness is felt through Cooper’s homefelt direction.
Russell just wants to get by on an honest living, so he can make a life with his girlfriend, Lena (Zoe Saldana), and help take care of his sick father (Bingo O’Malley). Rodney has a hard time staying out of trouble, taking part in underground bare-knuckle fights, finding himself in deep debt to organized crime guru John Petty (Willem Dafoe) as he is unable to throw the fights when Petty asks him to.
Rodney asks Petty to set-up a big fight for him in New Jersey, in order to settle the debt so he can begin his journey to a better, humbler life, just like his brother. Petty advises against this, as the organizer of these fights is a dangerous loose-cannon of a man known as Harlan DeGroat (Woody Harrelson). Rodney insists, and the two of them make the trip. Only, it turns out Petty owes his own fair share of money to DeGroat, and this leaves Rodney’s life in the hands of the unstable psychopath who captures him. Russell becomes aware of Rodney’s whereabouts and goes on a vicious search for his brother, along with their uncle Gerald (Sam Shepard).
Out Of The Furnace had the makings of a potential classic, but fell quite short of its undeniable potential. It’s a stylish film that makes use of its naturalistic and industrial settings, but the script is surprisingly stale and disappointingly ho-hum, very predictable and by the books. There’s not much you won’t see coming.
The heart of the film is built upon its performances, which were all delivered gracefully. Bale delivers on all cylinders as a revengeful man on the hunt for his brother. Afflack sold his role well, making a more convincing bare-knuckle fighter than you expect. Woody Harrelson is exceptional as DeGroat, stealing every scene he is in with a memorable performance that was quite terrifying at times. Sam Shepard and William Dafoe while underused, deliver their typically strong performances that surely make use of their limited screen-time. Forest Whitaker and Zoe Saldana were vastly underused.
This is a performance movie. Without them, the problems that Out Of The Furnace encounters would have been even more problematic. It’s too bad because there are times that the film has you tightly in its grasp, only to clumsily drop you on your head, dumbfounded as to what went wrong alone the way. It’s still plenty worth your time, but just keep your expectations more grounded than I did.
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