“Out of the Furnace” directed by Scott Cooper and rotten by Brad Ingelsby and Scott Cooper stars Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Zoe Saldana, Forest Whitaker, Willem Dafoe, and Sam Shepard and hits theaters this Wednesday in New York and LA.
How far would you go for family? Following his critically acclaimed feature film debut Crazy Heart, Scott Cooper continues to explore the human condition with Out of the Furnace, starring Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, and Woody Harrelson. With Crazy Heart, Cooper centered on one man’s personal and ethical dilemma when it came to his life choices and how it affected those around him. With Out of the Furnace, Cooper’s tale focuses on two brothers and their collision course with hardened criminals and hard drugs that guarantees some heavy violence.
Out of the Furnace opens up with one of the most brutal opening sequences, which is best left unsaid, but the scene gives you notice on what’s to be expected for the rest of the film. Taking place in Braddock, PA in 2008 during the economic crisis, the Baze brothers, Russell (Bale) and Rodney (Affleck), are trying to get by any way they can. Russell is a worker at the steel mill, following in the path of his now sickly father, while Rodney took the only other route for a kid growing up in that area of the country and has enlisted in the Army. Rodney is preparing for his fourth tour in Iraq by putting himself in deep in gambling debts while, Russell does what he can to take care of him and keep him out of harm’s way.
Things begin to go downhill for Russell as he has to do a bit of time in prison, preventing him from being there for his father’s death and resulting in his girlfriend, Lena (Saldana), leaving him for the sheriff, Wesley Barnes (Whitaker). While Russell is doing time, Rodney is trying to pay back his debts to the local bookie, Petty (Dafoe) by competing in bare-knuckle boxing matches. To pay back his debt in full, Rodney wants Petty to set him up with a boxing match up in the Ramapo Mountains, which means doing business with the dangerous Harlan DeGroat (Harrelson). Things for Russell begin to go from bad to worse once it’s discovered that Rodney has gone missing, while up in the mountains. Feeling that law enforcement just isn’t doing enough, he takes it upon himself to go out and find his brother with the help of his Uncle Red (Shepard). The longer Out of the Furnace goes on, the more uncomfortable of a watch it gets as Russell goes deeper and deeper into the hunt for his brother.
Ingelsby and Cooper go on to write a captivating story of brothers, with the oldest wanting to save the youngest, but is unable to get him to go straight. The location of Braddock, PA may be the most important character of the film with it once being a massive steel town only to go downhill due to the collapse of the steel industry combined with the crack cocaine epidemic. Most of Braddock just looks run down and beat up with numerous boarded up houses. Credit has to be given to cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi, who doesn’t attempt to glorify the area, but instead brings a rawness to the town of Braddock. With his previous experience working on The Grey and Warrior, it isn’t a surprise to see Takayanagi nail this one to perfection.
Cooper has built one of the strongest casts who each play their role perfectly. Bale throws himself into Russell completely, taking this mild mannered man to the extreme when he’s forced to go out on the hunt for his brother. Russell really is a kind soul who has been put into a deteriorating situation. Rodney, played with the quiet, raw intensity that Affleck so frequently brings to his roles, is unable to adjust the small, quiet life after living on the edge for so long. DeGroat is truly one of the most despicable men in films this year and Woody Harrelson just doesn’t hold back. Anytime DeGroat is on screen there’s a tension felt that just can’t be described knowing that at any moment he can go off and kill someone for no particular reason whatsoever.
Out of the Furnace really is a strong movie with dark, dark ending comparable to that of Prisoners (released earlier this year). That being said, it’s unable to maintain consistent pacing which is the main reason why it feels slow from time to time. The performances alone are reason enough to go out and see Out of the Furnace as each character is played so convincingly. While Out of the Furnace may not be able to fully match Crazy Heart, it’s clear that we’re seeing Scott Cooper rise into some elite company as a director.
-Joshua Kaye
