Looks like Christian Bale is spending his retirement from Batman decaying in the Rust Belt. Out of the Furnace tries really hard to be like the Deer Hunter, focusing on the outsourcing of the steel industry and the plight of the working class. However, the movie switches tone in the second half into a thriller of sorts that veers away from the themes in the first half of the film and focus on Bale’s character. Out of the Furnace wants to say something, but gets so angry it has to shoot something and gets lost along the way.
Russell Baze (Christian Bale) is one of those “moral code” leads who is clearly dealt a bad hand. His father is dying. His brother Rodney (Casey Affleck) is suffering post-traumatic stress disorder from several tours in Iraq. He goes to prison for involuntary manslaughter and loses his girlfriend Lena (Zoe Saldana) to the Braddock police chief (Forest Whitaker) during his sentence. Things get worse when he returns home; his brother becomes in debt to John Petty (Willem Dafoe), forcing Rodney to fight in Jersey under local drug lord Harlan DeGroat (Woody Harrelson). DeGroat obviously takes advantage of Rodney, forcing Russell to take matters into his own hands with the help of his uncle (Sam Shepard).
When focused on the plight of Braddock, Out of the Furnace is a fascinating motion picture. The movie opens with shots of steel mills and a drive in movie. Braddock feels like a place out of time, where lethargic, deliberate day-to-day activities are commonplace. It feels hopeless and inescapable. People trying to earn an honest living are finding fewer and fewer resources and a future available for them. When Out of the Furnace compares the diverging paths of Rodney and Russell (while also showing how similar they can be at their centers), the movie ripples with intensity and pathos. Is Russell’s life really more practical than Rodney’s when there is no future really in either? These types of themes are what made the Deer Hunter interesting and Out of the Furnace’s first hour comes near the ballpark of that classic.
However, the second half of the film betrays the first half. Harlan is less a character than a plot device, with anger and blackness at his center (he is fun to watch though). Because Harlan becomes the focus of the second act, themes expressed in the first half take a back seat to Russell’s quest for justice. The mistake Out of the Furnace makes is that it cannot apply the setup of the first half of the film to the second half. The setting was so integral to the movie’s success, that abandoning it for Jersey escapades diminished the power of the final act of Out of the Furnace. The setting could easily have been placed near the outskirts or in a different section of the city for a more impactful ending. More importantly, any statement about the Rust Belt gets lost in the thriller aspects and is nonexistent by the final ten minutes.
The disappointment of the story doesn’t diminish some of the acting performances in Out of the Furnace, particularly from the leads. Christian Bale is actually a Welsh man, but he infuses Russell with the steel resolve and pride often given to those areas of the country. Bale dominates every scene he is in, giving force and tension to scenes that probably don’t deserve it. It falls short on the Oscar front, but at least draws consideration. Casey Affleck gets to be a little crazy here, and he isn’t bad at it (but not great either). Zoe Saldana gives some emotional heft to the story; her scene on the bridge with Bale is the film’s highlight. Woody Harrelson can play a lunatic as good as any of the greats; just because the script doesn’t warrant it doesn’t mean he isn’t terrifying. Willem Dafoe, Forest Whitaker, and Sam Shepard are minor characters who don’t get much to do unfortunately.
Much like last year’s Killing Them Softly, Out of the Furnace tries to be transformative and falls short. The movie mistakes visceral violence as the selling point when the town that contains the violence is so much more interesting. Also, why is everyone a meth cooker? Thanks a lot Breaking Bad for making that the go to drug in movies for the next decade. For once, I want to see someone into hallucinogens for some more interesting consequences.