Review of Out of the Furnace (2013) by Mike B — 15 May 2014

Christian Bale plays Russell Baze, a working class man, his brother Rodney (played by Casey Affleck) has done several tours in Iraq with the armed forces and cannot handle normal life so he plies his trade with his fists in the underground boxing arena which leads to an encounter with Woody Harrelson's drug crazed Harlan DeGroat, a hillbilly crimelord in the backwoods of New Jersey. Russell goes looking for his brother, fearing the worst and sets his sights on DeGroat.

This film had the making of a great film, don't get me wrong, it's a good film, the acting is top notch, the cinematography is awesome, well shot in rural surrounds. It just seems to go slow, I found myself a little bored in parts and thought it could have been cut by 20 minutes or so, and in the end it doesn't offer anything new, just the same old predictable revenge drama, just with a top notch cast.