MPAA Rating: R
Director: Scott Cooper
Film Pulse Score: 5.5/10
Out of the Furnace, the newest film from director Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart) should instantly remind viewers of Michael Cimino’s 1978 seminal classic The Deer Hunter; the storyline, the structure, the setting all seem to mirror Cimino’s film while little tweaks in Brad Ingelsby’s script (co-written with Cooper) are able to distance Out of the Furnace to seemingly just at arm’s length to Cimino’s.
The viewer is quickly introduced to the film’s villain, Harlan DeGroat (Woody Harrelson), on a drive-in date epitomizing the word vile through force-feeding a hot dog reminiscent of Killer Joe’s fried chicken incident. Harrelson seems to revel in his character’s debauchery, gnawing the scenery every chance he gets as the alcoholic, drug-addicted criminal kingpin of the Ramapo Mountains.
The film then switches gears and focuses on the fraternal bond between brothers, Russell and Rodney Baze (Christian Bale and Casey Affleck) in their hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania. Russell divides his time between the steel mill, his girlfriend Lena (Zoe Saldana) and perpetually bailing out his active duty brother from his crippling gambling debts, while Rodney is tasked with caring for their ailing father. Russell appears to have a handle on all of these responsibilities until a tragic drunk-driving accident lands him in prison.
Time passes in prison and life on the outside goes on without him. He misses a number of substantially momentous occasions while in prison and when released, tries in earnest to get back to the ways things used to be; namely, the steel mill and tending to his younger brother who now finds himself mixed up in the world of underground, street fighting to pay off his debts to John Petty (Willem Dafoe).
Like always, Rodney needs just one more fight to square up his debts, just one more…then he’ll go straight. He’ll get a job at the mill or lay asphalt…anything. You can already see where this is heading. Of course the last fight takes place up in the Ramapo Mountains with a deal between Petty and DeGroat wherein tragedy ensues. Law enforcement have a tough time with the uncooperative backwoods residents of Ramapo…again, you see where this is going.
It’s time for Russell Baze to take the law into his own hands and dispense his own brand of justice.
Ingelsby and Cooper’s script just about contains every theme possible from (but not limited to) redemption, avenging, and vigilante-style justice all set within the economically-depressed steel town of Braddock; Sam Shepard is even there to class the whole thing up as the brother’s uncle.
For what it is, Cooper’s Out of the Furnace, while being extremely predictable does feature a number of solid performances with the standout being Casey Affleck delivering an emotionally charged, albeit nuanced, performance of four tour soldier forever changed by the war. Out of the Furnace also suffers from pacing issues (at times unnecessarily glacial) and a healthy dose of heavy-handedness while the cinematography and musical score choices leave a lot to be desired. Even with all of these faults Out of the Furnace does manage to be somewhat enjoyable overall, mostly due to the benefit of Bale, Affleck and Harrelson.
After seeing so much Hollywood hyped rubbish, I found this film to be a diamond. The cinematography is realistically gritty, with nobs on….it kept me hooked all the way through……Harrelson plays a believable untouchable…but what kept me hooked were the small things, like the rings tapping on Defoes car window….the deer shoot reference…self control in the face of extreme provocation…..until the end..could have been a little longer and a little quicker in places. Question? Would it have improved the movie? Answer? No..not at all.