Review of Out of the Furnace (2013) by Ryan B — 19 Apr 2014

"Out of the Furnace" can best be described as an elegy - it's a bleak, maudlin story about the burnished souls who spend their entire lives clawing to get somewhere akin to the middle. Whether it be serving four tenuous tours in Iraq, whether it be caring for your terminally ill father. Or whether it's working extra hours at the local steel mill to pay off your brothers' debts, which is the predicament Christian Bale's character - Russell Baze - finds himself doing. His brother, played by the criminally underrated Casey Affleck, is the aforementioned army vet who spends what little money he's borrowed at the OTB and is driven to a life of illegal underground street fighting.

So it begins. In the opening scene we're introduced to Harlan DeGroat, a rivaling town's crime lord played by the ubiquitous Woody Harrelson. Old Woody must have picked up a trick or three while taping "True Detective" for his DeGroat is of the see-it-to-believe-it variety. In the first scene, DeGroat (how can you not love that name?) and what we can only assume to be his girlfriend are parked in a drive-in movie theatre. The woman is caught laughing at some cosmic injustice befallen DeGroat, so in retaliation, Harlan shoves a whole hotdog down her throat before viciously slamming her head into the dashboard. But really, what else could have DeGroat done? The man was scoffed at in his vary own automobile. So, the driver if the neighboring car - unsurreptitiously insisting on upholding his neighborly duties, confront Harlan. Several devastating right jabs to the face later and DeGraot's would-be attacker is nothing more than a pulpy mess on the dry grass and Harlan is off - sans girlfriend. This isn't the sort of film where you leave feeling as though you've just had your faith in humanity re-affirmed.