Out of the Furnace
2.5/4
Starring: Christian Bale, Casey Afleck, Sam Shepard, Woody Harrelson, Zoe Saldana, Forest Whittaker, Willem Dafoe
Rated R for Strong Violence, Language, and Drug Content
When I saw the trailer for "Out of the Furnace," I was certain that the movie would end up on my Top 10 list. It looked to be a powerful saga of family and revenge. And the cast is to die for: seven Oscar nominees (one winner) and one of Hollywood's hottest (and talented) starlets. Sadly, it was not to be.
The film details the lives of a few people living in a run-down part of the US. Russell Baze (Bale) is content to work a steady job at the steel mill so he can support himself, his girlfriend Lena (Saldana) and his ailing father Rodney Sr. (Bingo O'Malley). His brother, Rodney Jr. (Affleck) is a soldier who is disappointed about his job prospects outside of the army. One night after having a few drinks, Russell crashes into a car pulling out of a driveway and kills a child. After a stint in prison, he seeks to get his life back together. But family ties put him on a collision course with a nasty drug kingpin named Harlan DeGroat (Harrellson).
"Out of the Furnace" reminded me of two movies: "The Deer Hunter" and "The Place Beyond the Pines." The former is due to the setting, which is an effective presentation of an economically depressed blue-collar town. The latter is due to everything else. In a desire to make things more realistic, director Scott Cooper keeps things low-key. That's all well and good on principle, but he goes too far. There are only a few instances where the characters speak normally (the exception being Casey Affleck). For the most part, everyone mumbles or speaks as if they're in a library.
Under the circumstances, the cast does what they can. Christian Bale, who signed on due to the fact that he couldn't stop thinking about the story, is effective, but there's really not much that he can do. He's kept so muzzled that little of his talent or charisma shines through. Casey Affleck gives the best performance, but that's because he has what is closest to a three-dimensional character. Woody Harrellson turns up the intensity, but he has the same problem as Bale. Willem Dafoe, Sam Shepard, Forrest Whittaker and Zoe Saldana provide solid support.
I think the problem with the film is that Scott Cooper is too in love with his characters. He sees them more three-dimensionally than we do, and is happy to let them talk and talk and follow them around with little in terms of plot. Occasionally, that can work, but that sort of thing goes a long way, and the characters have to be multi-faceted, which isn't the case here. Movies like "Heat" and "The Lord of the Rings" accomplished this because we saw the characters as interesting individuals. "Out of the Furnace" doesn't do this.
This isn't a terrible movie, but it is disappointing.
Starring: Christian Bale, Casey Afleck, Sam Shepard, Woody Harrelson, Zoe Saldana, Forest Whittaker, Willem Dafoe
Rated R for Strong Violence, Language, and Drug Content
When I saw the trailer for "Out of the Furnace," I was certain that the movie would end up on my Top 10 list. It looked to be a powerful saga of family and revenge. And the cast is to die for: seven Oscar nominees (one winner) and one of Hollywood's hottest (and talented) starlets. Sadly, it was not to be.
The film details the lives of a few people living in a run-down part of the US. Russell Baze (Bale) is content to work a steady job at the steel mill so he can support himself, his girlfriend Lena (Saldana) and his ailing father Rodney Sr. (Bingo O'Malley). His brother, Rodney Jr. (Affleck) is a soldier who is disappointed about his job prospects outside of the army. One night after having a few drinks, Russell crashes into a car pulling out of a driveway and kills a child. After a stint in prison, he seeks to get his life back together. But family ties put him on a collision course with a nasty drug kingpin named Harlan DeGroat (Harrellson).
"Out of the Furnace" reminded me of two movies: "The Deer Hunter" and "The Place Beyond the Pines." The former is due to the setting, which is an effective presentation of an economically depressed blue-collar town. The latter is due to everything else. In a desire to make things more realistic, director Scott Cooper keeps things low-key. That's all well and good on principle, but he goes too far. There are only a few instances where the characters speak normally (the exception being Casey Affleck). For the most part, everyone mumbles or speaks as if they're in a library.
Under the circumstances, the cast does what they can. Christian Bale, who signed on due to the fact that he couldn't stop thinking about the story, is effective, but there's really not much that he can do. He's kept so muzzled that little of his talent or charisma shines through. Casey Affleck gives the best performance, but that's because he has what is closest to a three-dimensional character. Woody Harrellson turns up the intensity, but he has the same problem as Bale. Willem Dafoe, Sam Shepard, Forrest Whittaker and Zoe Saldana provide solid support.
I think the problem with the film is that Scott Cooper is too in love with his characters. He sees them more three-dimensionally than we do, and is happy to let them talk and talk and follow them around with little in terms of plot. Occasionally, that can work, but that sort of thing goes a long way, and the characters have to be multi-faceted, which isn't the case here. Movies like "Heat" and "The Lord of the Rings" accomplished this because we saw the characters as interesting individuals. "Out of the Furnace" doesn't do this.
This isn't a terrible movie, but it is disappointing.
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