In awards season, there are always films that take their time to develop characterization and other story elements. This year, one of those films is ‘Out of the Furnace’ and before you dismiss it for what you can assume is a slow-paced movie, you’d be missing out on some pretty unforgettable performances from Christian Bale (with an accent forcing him to completely separate his voice from Batman’s), Woody Harrelson, and Casey Affleck.
Russell Baze (Bale) is a steel mill worker and older brother to Rodney Baze Jr. (Affleck) whom he tries to convince to get his life back together after serving four tours in Iraq. Rodney, however, decides to accomplish this by other means which gets him involved with the wrong people. After Rodney is reported missing and the police have proven unsuccessful in their attempts to recover Rodney, Russell—driven by his own sense of justice—goes on the search for his brother.
Woody Harrelson sheds any sign of being a (somewhat) positive influence in the lives of teenagers as with ‘The Hunger Games’ and ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ in his role as Harlan DeGroat, a meth-addicted kingpin. Harrelson gives 110% in his performance as a truly malicious character; he is one without mercy and who’s driven by only two things: drugs and money. However, what sets Harrelson’s DeGroat apart from others (other than his extremely unnerving and volatile manner) is the beginning scene featuring our villain at a drive-in that sets the stage for who it is that these brothers are going to inevitably encounter.
Russell is the very antithesis of DeGroat. Serving as Rodney’s voice of reason, Bale portrays Russell as a quiet and good-natured man struggling to see his brother improve his status. The film spends a substantial amount of time revealing his nature scene by scene. In one particular scene with love interest, Lena (Zoe Saldana), he receives news from her that shatters his hopes, but is—more or less—good news for her. Instead of breaking, as we might expect at this point, we instead bear witness to someone happy for her, which makes for an emotional scene between Saldana and Bale and another reason to render his character likable.
Unlike his brother, Rodney cannot hold onto his composure for very long and understandably so considering having to go back and forth between the US and Iraq witnessing unimaginable horrors in the process. In a very specific moment of unrest, Rodney mentions just that and Affleck’s performance is one that hits you square in the chest. Throughout ‘Out of the Furnace’, there are a few fight scenes involving Affleck, but none of these scenes will hit you quite as hard as this one does. Like DeGroat, Rodney is a loose cannon, but in a different way; his desperation for earning money in a way that he’s more comfortable with (regardless of endangerment to his life) shows with each line uttered and gaze struck by Affleck.
Concerning the structure, there are some scenes that parallel against each other that work well to reveal character growth and provide foreshadowing. A scene that involves Russell going hunting with his uncle (Sam Shepard) is an excellent example of his willingness to let things go and his subtle and honorable temperament that is challenged greatly later on in the film. However, the first half of the movie feels more like snapshots of Russell’s life and Rodney’s involvement in it rather than a well-flowing story involving all of the characters. Each cut feels like we’re being cut off from connecting to or empathizing with the characters at all. There isn’t any big opportunity for this until Rodney is minutes away from going missing; this is also, unfortunately, the only time there’s a real objective and direction for the movie.
As for the ending, we are given ‘The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King/Pride and Prejudice (US Ending) treatment. We are asked, for a moment, to come up with what may happen next for our main character and then it fades to black only to reveal in another scene the answer to that question before the movie finally ends. The second-to-last shot is the ideal last shot for that kind of ambiguous turn that works for a movie like this one. It’d also say a great deal about its audiences’ understanding of the characters and the themes. The final ending does nothing more for the story as well as our imagination.
‘Out of the Furnace’ is a film given its slow pacing will not be for everyone. Going against formula in the script doesn’t make it a strong one, yet even with its faults in writing and with the final shot, ‘Out of the Furnace’ is worth seeing for its brilliant performances by its very dedicated cast.
Jim’s Rating: 7.25/10