Review of Out of the Furnace (2013) by Brett B — 23 Jan 2015

A dark tale of working class hardship and crime, OUT OF THE FURNACE is - at the very worst - an incredible mood piece, an angry, tense movie grappling with discontent and suppressed rage. In terms of acting, the film's blessed with one of the year's finer ensembles, led by Christian Bale in one of his best roles; though it's a comparatively restrained and internal character, Bale displays such humanity, and when he's called upon to bring the emotion, it's REALLY effective.

Woody Harrelson, as the primary antagonist, is surprisingly frightening, and Casey Affleck completely sells his character's profound dissatisfaction with his life. Dafoe, Shepard, Whitaker, and Saldana - all with relatively little screentime - truly flesh-out their roles in a very naturalistic way, and each gets some nice character beats to play.

The movie strongly conveys a sense of place and lifestyle, and this is aided by the beautifully-stark, almost bleak cinematography, which perfectly compliments the story. Now, I'd be lying if I said I found the ending to be completely satisfying, but I'm not sure we're meant to; it did leave me contemplating it and mulling it over, which is never a bad thing, as far as I'm concerned.