Review of Out of the Furnace (2013) by Joel M — 02 Jan 2015

Director Scott Cooper's "Out of the Furnace" is a dark but powerful movie about a big brother's determination to seek vengeance on those that hurt his younger brother. It is set in a working-class steel town in Western Pennsylvania. Christian Bale stars as Russell Baze, the steel worker big brother who does time in jail and upon his release, he discovers that his more rebellious younger brother Russell is in hot water. Casey Affleck portrays Russell as a hard-edge who has returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan and gets caught up in the underground fight game. Russell does like to tussle but sometimes too hard, and his determination to make money ends up being his downfall. Did I say too much? Oops! Sorry! Didn't mean to shoot a spoiler out of my linguistic furnace. Woody Harrelson co-stars as the villainous Halan DeGroat, who is involved in illegal setups of the underground fight circuit; not to mention hard drugs, domestic violence, assault & battery, and murder; so yea Harlan is a model "the goat" of any town with his evil ways. I credit Cooper for giving the film it's murky but realistic perspective of a steel town and its citizens. Bale was fantastic as usual, and Affleck provided some good punches in his supporting role. And let's not forget the Woody; Harrelson continues his impressive career with another solid performance. So yea, the furnace is hot here; so get of your furniture and into the streaming or Netflix furnace, and get into "Out of the Furnace".

**** Good.