OUT OF THE FURANCE

I thought the film was okay. It felt quite slow. The introduction to the main characters and their relationships went on for a while. Also, the jump between time was alittle annoying. I don't know how long he was in prison. I thought Bale was very good in this. He had great hair btw. I'm not feeling Zoe Saldana. She was reminding me of Uhura here. Woody was very ruthless but the film takes a long time to reach it's payoff. The opening song was nice. Overall, not very memorable for me.

Grade - B

Ace acting and potent atmosphere combat an unfocused storyline and a slightly slow pace in Out of the Furnace, an ultra-grim crime drama set in a once productive and proud, now decaying and ghostly industrial Pennsylvania township. It is the second feature by Scott Cooper, director of the sleeper hit Crazy Heart. The icons and signposts loom as large as the town's closing mill: a returning soldier who cannot find his place, a dying father, antagonists with questionable dental hygiene, masculinity, more masculinity, Sam Shepard (because this type of film almost always co-stars Sam Shepard), and so on and so forth.

The plot has many detours and side concerns, too many, but the central vein focuses on Russell, an introverted, wage earning American man played by Christian Bale with the type of focus and intensity one expects from him. After four tours in Iraq, his sympathetic, but unstable brother Rodney (a strong Casey Affleck) finds it hard to adjust again to the pace and expectations of small-town life stateside and begins participating in underground boxing matches, a decision which brings both brothers into the dangerous sphere of Harlan (Woody Harrelson), a brutal, drug abusing promoter who, in the film's jolting opening scene, forces a girlfriend to deep throat a hot dog before smashing her face into the dashboard, and he only becomes more unpleasant as the film goes on. To be honest, Harlan's brand of evil is almost comical in its cruel purity, but Harrelson rises to the challenge and delivers a riveting performance. His energy indicates an out-of-control animal always a second away from escaping his cage and tearing out the throat of every person in the room. It is a shame, in fact, he and Bale do not share more scenes.

The film's technical credits are beyond reproach: the overcast, blight centric photography vividly captures the United States post-American Dream. Yet despite the quality of the craft and the performances, and also several moments of genuine grit and suspense, the film never perfectly comes together as intended: its concerns and components (a straightforward story of an armed man with vengeance on the mind, an elegy for dying industry and the sad eyed people left behind) dance around each other rather than coalescing. At times, they almost serve to undermine one another: director and co-writer Cooper's vision is too deadly serious to allow his action-movie inclinations to ever become fun or rousing, yet the simplicity of its end game (a chase, a fight, shots fired) bumps against the heavy and political promises of the film's deliberate, elongated first half.

B

Oh, and what was up with the ambiguous, anticlimactic final shot of Bale stonily seated at a table? Not sure what it is meant to convey. The film should have ended 10 seconds earlier.

Out of the Furnace has strong (and bleak) atmosphere and effective performances but it's ultimately a bit flat. The movie never really seems to go anywhere and has a storyline you've seen 100,000 times before. Christian Bale is excellent, submerging himself in the role as usual. Casey Affleck is also very good, while Woody Harrelson plays one of the most despicable characters of his career. The rest of the cast, including Forest Whitaker, Zoe Saldana, Sam Shepard and Willem Dafoe, is woefully underused. Scott Cooper effectively shows the grim decay of a dying Pennsylvania steel town and the way that carries over to its people, and the actors are up to the challenge. I just wish it was more interesting. C+

Bonus points for the use of Pearl Jam's "Release," though, as Magnus said.

..but you don't give a grade.

grades are for pussies

Algren and I are what we eat, baby!

...

Oh, and Magnus gave this a 7.5/10. Let's round it to 8 and call it a B+.

Out of the Furnace

I love small town stories like this. So simple and beautiful (lovely cinematography), and a story of brothers, revenge no less, is always a common theme among my favourite movies. Out of the Furnace probably has the best ensemble of the year. Terrific film. The music was powerful, the themes are relevant, and the acting is great. I can't ask for much more.

Bale is terrific as always, and Casey Affleck was surprisingly great. Other top actors just filled gaps with utter competence. You have Forest Whitaker, Zoe Saldana, Sam Shepard and Woody Harrelson all adding integrity to this ensemble. I was surprised to see Leonardo DiCaprio as a producer at the end.

A