Out of the Furnace

I heard about this movie a long time ago and I thought it would be a good choice to see it... eventually.

I didn't really think I was going to pay money unless I was going to go with a friend and I thought it would eventually come to Netflix.. and it did.

Out of The Furnace is the story of Russell and Rodney Baze (played by Christian Bale and Casey Affleck, respectively).

Russell works at the local mill in small town Pennsylvania, while Rodney is a veteran with a gambling problem and in debt to a local criminal named John Petty (played by Willem Defoe).

Russ is the older brother and feels a sense of protection over his younger brother and decides to try and help Rodney get out of debt.

Right off the bat there's a good connection between Christian Bale and Casey Affleck. The two of them act as though they could be brothers. Is it the best relationship I've ever seen? No, but it is a decent relationship. With the events of the story, these two are on a little bit different tracks. They are connected because of their relationship, but honestly, there isn't enough in the film to totally develop them as brothers. They have a conversation or two while Russ is in prison (I'll get to that) and they have a conversation about Rodney's service to the country. Very good moments of development, but nothing mind blowing.

So as I was saying, Russ is responsible for the deaths of two people, one of them being a child, in a drunk car accident and is sent to prison. During his time in prison, his father dies, his girlfriend (played by Zoe Saldana) leaves him and gets pregnant with her new boyfriend, the police chief (Forest Whitaker).

Furthermore, Rodney is trying to pay back his debts by fighting in illegal matches for John Petty who is also in debt to crazy, meth head, wife beating, psychopath, Woody Harrelson.

So Russ gets released from prison and returns to work at the mill. At the same time there are tensions between him and his brother who wants to settle his debt to John Petty. He decides that he can do one last fight in the Appalachian mountains for Woody Harrelson and his crazy gang.

After a misunderstanding, John Petty is murdered by Woody Harrelson and after a horrible beating, so is Rodney.

The rest of the film is Russell dealing with the death of his brother, the restrictions of being a parolee, and whether or not he'll exact revenge on his brother's murderer.

As far as individual performances go, 2013 was a good year for Christian Bale. You had this film that gave him an opportunity to show off his acting chops in a very personal setting, while at the same time he did American Hustle that same year and got a nomination for an Oscar.

This performance wasn't nearly as good as American Hustle but it was still a pretty solid performance all around. While I said there wasn't much of a development between him and Casey Affleck's character, there was a lot of development of him personally.

Its just another testament to the acting ability of Christian Bale. The guy is just a good actor.

The main focus is on Bale and all the shit he has to go through as a character, dealing with being responsible for the death of two people, going to jail, losing his girlfriend, losing his brother. Its all just kind of a depressing story for Russell to go through. And despite that being a little bit redundant at times, Bale does it well.

Casey Affleck actually doesn't have as big of a part in the film as I think I would have liked. He does a good job but its not nearly as much as I would have liked to see from him.

The real performance worth mentioning is that of Woody Harrelson.

The guy is just down right talented.

I think I've been convinced of this ever since I've seen True Detective. He can do a complex character like the one he played in True Detective, he can play the light hearted lovable character he plays in Cheers, he can do Haymitch in Hunger Games, but then he turns around and just becomes a down right terrifying guy that you don't want to mess with.

His character isn't the most in depth character ever imagined but he's a drug dealer, criminal. He really doesn't have to be that complicated. As long as he's terrifying and creates a terrifying obstacle for the hero, I don't really give a shit who he is.

Overall the film is just a slightly better than mediocre crime drama. I'm finding its really hard to find a good crime drama movie because they're just done a little bit better on TV. You can have procedurals and story arcs that just make them more enjoyable. But I think Ou of the Furnace does its best to try and give the genre a little bit more flare and a little bit more credibility. Is it an incredibly good film? Not really. But its well acted, it had me interested, and I enjoyed watching it. Will I remember it in a couple days? Probably not. But seeing Christian Bale go up against Woody Harrelson is a win in my book so I'll give the movie a pass.

Honestly the movie is dark, its gritty, its depressing, but its alright. Not incredible, but alright.

But what did you think of Out of the Furnace? Comment and discuss below! Also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to give me your thoughts on the film, what I should review next, and get updates on movie news and reviews!

I'll leave you with this. I've been craving some new True Detective news and have been watching the teaser over and over for the past few days. Here's the new trailer that came out today! Enjoy!