Review of Out of the Furnace (2013) by C.j. M — 23 Jul 2014

I want to be just like you, John.

Russell and Rodney Baze are brothers that are poor and struggle to make ends meet. Their father died in the factories and Russell is heading down the same tracks after getting released from jail. Rodney wants a different path and dreams of rags to riches via the underground. When Rodney turns up missing, Russell takes the law into his own hands to find his brother.

"Open your fucking mouth.".

Scott Cooper, director of Crazy Heart and the upcoming Black Mass, delivers Out of the Furnace in his second major motion picture. The storyline is interesting and does contain dynamic characters. I also thought the script was pretty well written; unfortunately, I didn't find the plot as compelling and dramatic as I hoped. The cast does deliver solid performances and includes Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck, Zoe Saldana, Willem Dafoe, and Sam Shepherd.

"He wanted to see you. It just ate him up.".

I was very excited to see this movie when the previews first came out. The cast looked awesome and the story seemed to have potential. This is currently on Netflix online. I did enjoy the movie and wanted to see how it unfolded, but there are plenty of pictures in this genre far superior to this picture. This was not as good as The Place Beyond the Pines or Snatch as an example. Overall, this is worth a viewing but will not be worth adding to your DVD collection.

"It'll blow your balls off, brother.".

Grade: C+.