Review of Out of the Furnace (2013) by Rameez K — 27 Jul 2014

Scott Cooper, who directed Jeff Bridges to his first Academy Award, returns with a powerhouse cast in Out of The Furnace. This time starring a mix of Oscar winners and nominees including Christian Bale and Forrest Whittaker, supported by Willem Dafoe, Woody Harrelson and Casey Affleck. Bale and Affleck star as Russell and Rodney Baze respectively. Brothers, born and bred in a small town in the northeast. The film tells a story of a struggling family, a blue collar family. Russell has worked at the steel mill for his entire life, his father did, and his grandfather did too. It runs in the family. His brother Rodney, played by an energetic Casey Affleck, desires a different life, he signs up for the war, performs multiple tours of Iraq, only to come back to the very thing he ran away from. Casey's performance is raw, his wide eyed rants and persistence are scene stealers.

Nothing to complain about here with the performances here. Everyone is on top form, everyone receives a strong scene too, and they take advantage of it. Zoe Saldana as Bale's girlfriend gets an emotionally touching moment at a bridge midway through the film. Woody Harelson as Harlan (Classic Bad Guy Name) is a lot of fun, at his violent and psychotic best. Willem Dafoe and Whitaker are reserved, rightfully so. What is lacking however is chemistry between characters, the focal plot between Bale and Affleck is rather unbelievable, they don't look like brothers and are some emotionally disjointed that you don't feel the brotherhood, some edits which were made later on in the film, should have been moved up to the first act, to establish that.

Cooper who wrote this, weaves in the commentary of underappreciated war veterans, and wrongful use of the government's money. Also, the outsourcing of jobs, taking away jobs from small towns. Rodney, feels betrayed and underappreciated by the country he bled and bruised over partakes in a bunch of fighting tournaments, and is instructed by his superiors to take a dive, obviously his pride stops him from doing that, and Harlan punishes him as he sees fit. When Russell discovers it, it becomes a typical revenge film. There in seems to be the fault, the conflict comes in too late, we see Rodney struggle with his pride for quite a bit, those scenes could be trimmed, Christian Bale and Saldana's relationship carries no real weight to the main plot. That is the film's, I would say only downfall. It's too simple, and the commentary Cooper tries to provide does not fit with the film's characters or story, it's almost as if Cooper is explaining the film, sitting right next to you.

I had high hopes for this film, but then again, trailers have gotten ridiculously excellent nowadays. Plus it helps, Cooper's last film proved very touching. My high hopes weren't squashed completely, but Out of The Furnace felt just a bit above average, with a star cast and a promising director, I expect more.