Out of the Furnace (2013)

Maybe I was just expecting too much. Having seen the trailer, I was wanting to see this one for a while and excited to finally get an opportunity. It started great - lots of action and let's face it - you really can't go wrong with these actors. They're superb. But.. even great acting couldn't save this one. I found myself clock staring for the whole last hour. The build to the climax was far too long and the climax was certainly the worst part of the film. It was one of those movies where you anticipate the many exciting, different ways the story could play out and when you see how it actually does, you just wish you had spent the night laying on the couch and watching something on Netflix. Wait for it to come out on Redbox. Shouldn't be long.

Fmovies: I had high expectations for "Out of the Furnace". I'll watch any film starring Christian Bale, and the rest of the cast -and especially the reviews- only made me more eager to see it.

I want to be careful not to spoil the plot, but frankly there's not much to spoil. When the credits rolled I was left wondering what the point of sitting through these two hours actually was.

Casey Affleck is certainly a good actor, but he has yet to star in a great movie. Woody Harrelson is decent as a stereotypical bad guy. Bale is excellent as always, and the rest of cast are reduced to mere props.

What a let down! 2013 is a year to forget in Hollywood.

Scott Cooper takes a sharp turn from the school book tone of his last film Crazy Heart and brings us to a more dismal world in Out of the Furnace. Our hero, Russel Baze, (played smartly by Christian Bale), is a well intentioned and responsible man who in trying to protect his brother meets cruel and cold irony and is sent wayward in this ruined world. Meanwhile his brother returns from deployment with a terrible case of post traumatic stress disorder and brings his chaos into the "imbred" and lawless hills of New Jersey, led by the degenerate Harlan Degroat, (Woody Harrelson).

Now, the story in the vein of films like Deer Hunter and Winter's Bone, two films I personally admire for capturing the delicacy of people amid depressed communities. It's hard to say this film doesn't measure up. The lighting, sound, cinematography, editing, story, are all accomplished with the utmost professionalism. However, if the script fell into the wrong hands its flaws would easily be detected because the weakness of its integrity would show. The story takes too many short cuts to get where it needs to go. Some might already find it slow. It is after all a vignette of the decline of our hero.

However, what really made this movie work for me was the brilliant performances of the trait. William Dafoe as a local and smart small time boss. Sam Shepard as the uncle, a face of masculinity and integrity, Tom Bower as a complex and familiar bartender and gate man. Casey Affleck as the young and traumatized brother, Forrest Whitaker as the conflicted cop, Zoe Saldana as the girlfriend. Though, it's Harrelson who really steals the show, he's evil, beyond logic and powerful You can't wait to see him again and that antagonistic combination is rare and even more scarcely pulled off.

Out of the Furnace won't be nominated for best screenplay. However, in my eyes, it should get a nod for everything else.

Out of the Furnace fmovies. Firstly, Christian Bale, like Sean Penn cannot really put a foot wrong in my book, having said that, I was disappointed with his character, far too much focus on mood shots and little on character development. Unlike other reviewers, a slow burn when cast correctly is a joy to watch and for the first hour I thought we had another 'Deerhunters', 'Nil By Mouth', 'Mystic River' & 'North Country' gritty realism of real life, not some $1M bonus farce created by selling hedged funds that 99% of people cannot relate to. However, cracks appeared quickly in how fast Bale was jailed, how quick his woman left him and how little their relationship mattered to the plot. I want to care for the characters and Saldana got zero screen time to care for her, so much so that when she announced her 'big' news, who really cared? Sam Shepherd was woefully underused and in my honest opinion, I felt sorry for the talent not utilized, again showing no respect to the role or character, he may as well have not been there. Whitaker was OK, but again, lack of promotion of the character, why would Saldana choose him over Bale? why would she not visit prison? Prison time was a joke and may as well not have been there. Affleck, whose voice irritates, really stepped up as did Willem Dafoe, who I am really enjoying of late in his roles and finally Woody Harrelson was on fire in this role. What you have here is a film that concentrates its focus in the wrong areas, relying far too much on a good cast list to carry it through and considering it is nearly 2 hours long seems rushed at the end. I still recommend this film simply as watching Bale & Harrelson is like watching Tiger Woods or Ronaldo.....even if they have a bad day, they are worth the entrance fee alone.

Revenge is hardly a fresh concept in film-making. This basic theme, however, here takes a backseat to the styled execution of "Out of the Furnace." Told through an all-star cast, the story unfolds slowly, but powerfully. Set in a rural, present-day America, the cinematography captures a beautiful country and glory that is seemingly fading under the weight of war and the economy. The cast skillfully fleshes out the various characters, establishing believability and giving them a rare level of depth. This makes the atmosphere tangible and arguably makes the element of human drama the actual star of the film. The entire cast is excellent and essential, however Christian Bale and Woody Harrelson absolutely steal the show. As the bad-to-the-bone "villain" of the script, Harrelson is awesomely despicable, his mere presence on the screen inciting anxiety. Alternately, Bale plays a good but troubled man, condemned to watch his life disintegrate one piece at a time. I caught the director, Scott Cooper, in an interview segment on Carson Daly. He mentioned a desire to impact and "immerse" the audience in his movies. In that regard, I would judge this effort to be an undeniable success. During certain scenes, I found myself echoing the actions and emotions depicted on screen, such as dread, liberation, uneasiness, tension, and particularly, a relieved breath of serenity. More drama than action, the tone for me was reminiscent of "The Place Beyond the Pines", another well-executed drama with a definite crime flavoring. Also, I felt that the Pearl Jam number that opens and closes the film was a perfect choice for the intended vibe, and deserves a special mention. Overall, this movie is very well done, despite lacking the glamour and flash of an action flick. As a drama, I highly recommend it to fans of the genre.

The fine cast assembled for this film makes me wonder what they saw in the script. Was it a matter of one actor signing on, and others wanting to work with him (I say him because the only female in the film is Zoe Saldana, in a one-dimensional and thankless role). Was it that the director used to be an actor and knows all these people? Was it because he had success with Crazy Heart?

Other reviews basically already touch on the problems here: it means nothing. I wanted to like the film, but I walked out of the theater not knowing what I had just seen (the ending is confusing, ridiculous, and poorly done). The film takes itself far too seriously to get away with just being entertaining, and when you don't have a clue what the whole point of the movie was, that's a bad thing. Things happen in the film without really coming together and create a cohesive narrative where you feel that there's any growth or direction. Perhaps that's the intent, but any theme or themes were underdeveloped and not apparent. I find the comparisons to Deerhunter insulting, personally.

The actors do a fine job, although I feel there is some miscasting in the movie. Would Forest Whitaker really be able to attract Zoe Saldana? Nothing in the movie gave me any reason to think they had a believable relationship. Frankly, nothing in the film convinced me that Saldana would even stay in a town like Braddock. Bale is good, as is Affleck and Harrelson, but I didn't really connect with anyone except Affleck's character.

Definitely a missed opportunity and a disappointment.