Out of the Furnace

My Grade:  C

What do you get when you put four Oscar nominated actors and two Oscar winning actors in a film by a director whose first film (Crazy Heart, 2009) was nominated for some awards and has a stunning 91% on RottenTomatoes.com? Unfortunately, you get Out of the Furnace. It’s such a disappointment that this film squanders the outstanding talent it boasts in its cast. That being said, it may not actually be bad... it just doesn’t live up to its potential (which is worse than simply being bad).

Out of the Furnace is a slow, brooding drama set in western Pennsylvania in an area aptly termed the “Rust Belt.” Scott Cooper (director) uses the setting well in capturing the bleak, depressed look that encapsulates the mood of his story. It’s grimy, but he captures it beautifully, making for a very interesting look for his film.

It takes more than look to make a great film though. It also takes talent which this cast is packed with. Woody Harrelson takes on a sick, twisted role in the ultra-violent Harlan DeGroat and does well with it, but the script doesn’t give him much to work with in terms of depth. He’s simply pure evil which makes for a forgettable antagonist. Zoe Saldana brings a much needed lightness to the depressing story with her charming turn as Russell Baze’s (Christian Bale) girlfriend, but her role doesn’t affect the story much at all. She seems to only be there to add some character development to the paper-thin protagonist, Russell; but even that isn’t done well. Willem Dafoe (one of my favorites) takes on a sleazy role as the bar owner that gets in over his head which he seems perfect for; but the role, again, just isn’t unique enough to capitalize on Dafoe’s talent and quirks. I already mentioned how thin Christian Bale’s character is and it’s a shame because he proved in The Fighter that he can own the screen in a gritty, dark drama. He does what he can but spends most of the film mumbling his lines, getting violently angry at random times, and taking heartbreaking news with little or no emotion. Casey Affleck stands out as conflicted war veteran, Rodney Baze Jr. His character is written the best and he does very well, but the film doesn’t focus on him as much as it should.

Writing is the major issue here. The characters are thin, the story is familiar and oppressively depressing, and the climactic conclusion that this film seems to be building to never comes. The ending is strange... but not in an artistic or meaningful way. It just doesn’t make a bit of sense. Maybe I missed something, but I doubt it. If there is a shining moment in the writing, though, it’s in the parallelism portrayed in various scenes involving some rather involved metaphors. One involves hunting, some foreshadowing, and a metaphor connecting Rodney and a deer. Not surprisingly, many of those things are going to be lost on the average viewer. Kudos to not pandering to the audience, though... I guess.

Overall, Out of the Furnace is very slow when its premise seems to promise a much faster pace. It would work better as an action film and if Rodney went missing sooner, leaving Russell more of a chance to face off with DeGroat (Woody Harrelson) for more of the film. The bottom line is that Cooper and his co-writer, Brad Ingelsby, traded entertainment for art. Some may praise them for it but I condemn them because it is possible to combine the two.