Review of Out of the Furnace (2013) by Matthew C — 26 Feb 2015

Christian Bale uses some kind of American accent that's too soft spoken to distinguish.

Let's see...where to begin... The performances aren't too bad here. I like the cast, but a lot of the accents are head-scratchingly odd and inconsistent. Also, more importantly, the main conflict of the film isn't set up until about half-way through, which is pretty annoying. Indeed, significant things happen to Christian Bale, but he brushes them off quickly and moves on with his life -- leaving you thinking, "Oh. Okay. So where is this thing going?".

Strangely enough, most of the points I so graciously bestow upon this thriller have to go to the cinematography and setting. Director and crew do a wonderful job picking interesting locations with loads of character for their scenes in this small Pennsylvania town (North Braddock, PA). The setting is established very well -- infused with believable local color and notable landmarks.

The plot itself is rather unoriginal. It's a simple story of working class brothers. Both have flaws, but the older (Bale) is arguably just a little more responsible than the younger (Casey Affleck). Ultimately, Affleck finds trouble after getting caught up with criminals in a street fight racket, and it's up to Bale to make things right. It's all fairly predictable. It appears that the filmmakers involved care more about making a film in North Braddock than anything else -- including crafting a worthwhile story [Look up Scott Cooper interviews about the film. It's not hard to come to this conclusion.].