Review of Out of the Furnace (2013) by Zane G — 18 Jan 2014

Out Of The Furnace is a good movie but I think that there are some things that need to be said.

Russell and his younger brother Rodney live in the economically-depressed Rust Belt, and have always dreamed of escaping and finding better lives. But when a cruel twist of fate lands Russell in prison, his brother becomes involved with one of the most violent and ruthless crime rings in the Northeast - a mistake that will cost him everything. Once released, Russell must choose between his own freedom, or risk it all to seek justice for his brother.

A movie with a plot like that sounds convincing enough. With a cast that's filled with actors like this and a director who knows how to make great films you would think this movie could contend for the Oscars. I don't think it should but its a good movie. Starting with the pros of this movie. First off the acting. The acting was great. From start to finish the acting really got me attached to each character and the movie as well. Secondly the overall plot line, which was pretty straight forward. Its pretty easy to understand, but which brings up the cons of the movie because this movie seems a lot longer then its original time length. It takes awhile for the movie to get to its execution because for the most of the movie were watching Christian Bale's character life fall apart. I got pretty bored because of that because it just seemed to go on for a big portion of the movie and that almost took me out of it. That was pretty much the only thing I had a problem with because everything else seemed to work well. The directing was pretty good. Director Scott Cooper who made the great movie called Crazy Heart (2009). While this movie seems a lot different but you can feel his style in this movie.

Christian Bale knows how to commit to a character and he does it pretty well in this movie. I don't normally see Casey Affleck in much nowadays but he was fine. Zoe Saldana and Sam Shepard I felt were both underused, and same for Forest Whitaker another great actor that was underused in this film. Woody Harrelson was actually really god in the movie. He wasn't a great villain but he was a very well constructed character. Willem Dafoe didn't really do much for me but the doesn't mean that he was bad.

Out Of The Furnace is a lot different then it looks. It's not a bad movie but its a good movie that is very well put together with some problems per my opinion.