OUT OF THE FURNACE - Review

Directed by: Scott Cooper

Written by: Brad Ingelsby, Scott Cooper

Rated R for strong violence, language and drug content

Release Date: December 6^th, 2013

Review by: Sean Kayden

Writer/director Scott Cooper broke out onto the scene with his critically lauded film, “Crazy Heart” a few years ago. He’s returned with his follow-up, “Out of the Furnace,” that has one of the strongest acting ensembles of the year. With a cast of all-stars including, Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson and Casey Affleck with support from Willem Dafoe, Forest Whitaker, Sam Shepard and Zoe Saldana. Bale stars as Russell Baze, a mill worker in small town in Pennsylvania. Grueling hours and making ends meet, Baze hopes to start a family with his girlfriend played by Zoe Saldana. In the meantime, his brother, Rodney (Casey Affleck) returns home from the war looking for anyway to make a quick buck. In a cruel twist of fate, Russell lands himself in prison and Rodney gets involved with a brutal and sadistic crime ring up in the Northeast. Woody Harrelson plays a vicious villain who’s pitiless toward anyone who crosses his path. While it’s difficult to ignore the overwhelming talent on screen, it sort of baffles you how actors of this caliber are drawn to such an empty, hollow script. “Out of the Furnace” doesn’t say a whole lot about really anything. It attempts to be contemporary with a jab to the US military by a disgruntled marine and how the choices you may certainly may have dire circumstances. “Out of the Furnace” simply doesn’t have anything to offer other than feeling like a direct-to-DVD film that just happens to include an all-star cast attached to it.

            I was really hoping and even expecting to see a dynamite film here. However, the film is utterly straightforward in such an old school, traditional way. Often times, the reasons made by characters didn’t hold much merit. Not for a second did I believe Casey Affleck to be some tough guy marine who has served four tours of duty in Iraq. In addition, Bale’s character reasoning behind being locked up (never knowing how long it was for) just seemed derivative. Sam Shepard had no point in the film while Forest Whitaker once again shows up as a cop or some authority figure with little to offer. The only two guys who had anything going for them were Bale and Harrelson, but even their characters were very one-note. Harrelson plays a badass guy better than anyone else, but there wasn’t a whole lot of meat to his character for him to chew on. After Russell gets out of prison is when his brother, Rodney gets into deeper trouble than ever before. What doesn’t make sense is Rodney doing what he said he would do, but paying a price for it. It’s unclear why the fate of his character is met with unwarranted results. Then there’s the ending, which is almost laughable of how it all unfolds. No twists or turns, just baffling uncomplicated.

            Indeed Scott Cooper has suffered the sophomore slump with his second directorial effort. I almost can’t believe this film was released by big names such as Ridley Scott and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way company. It’s not as if “Out of the Furnace” is complete garbage, but there’s really nothing holding it together. No centerpiece, no message. It has a few good scenes amongst a plethora of scenes lacking any intrigue or interest. There are several faults and ill-conceived story decisions here that easily allow the viewer to pick it apart piece by piece. With a cast like this, a director coming off a big hit, you just have certain expectations that you hope are met. With “Out of the Furnace,” you get almost nothing in return for the price of admission. Perhaps this script should have been sent to the furnace before anyone was dumb enough for giving it the green light.

Grade: 1.5 out of 5