Alright I've downed a bottle of Xanax I think I'm ready to talk about this movie (don't do that kids).
Out of the Furnace is the new Christian Bale movie from Scott Cooper the director of Crazy Heart. It's about Russel Baze a working class man who works in a steel mill, who's brother Rodney(Casey Affleck) a Vietnam war veteran, gets wrapped up in a fight club. The fight club is run by Woody Harrelson who gives an amazing performance in this movie, every scene he is in is uncomfortable in a really good way. Speaking of performances pretty much all of them were really, really good. This is the first Casey Affleck movie that I've watched and this has gotten me really interested in seeing more of him. His character is a broken Vietnam veteran who owes money to John Petty (Willem Dafoe). He is fighting to make money so that he can pay him off, but he decides to join Woody Harrelson's fight club so that he can make more money, and it all goes downhill from there.
Also do not believe the trailer for this movie, it makes it look like an action movie, but it is a slow-burn drama though and through. I got a "The Deer Hunter" vibe from this movie which is a really good thing because I love that movie. As I said the beginning this movie is really depressing. Everything is going wrong for Christian Bale's character. I swear there was a hunting scene and I thought that the guy he was hunting with would get mauled by a bear.
I thought the story was vey good although a lot of other reviewers would disagree. It was pretty straight forward, but it was told in a very strange way. They would during certain scenes, skip between the two brothers showing how their lives were different and I really liked that. The cinematography was also beautifully done. The mixture of the amazing music and the gorgeous shots made for a really good atmosphere.
Even though I have been raving about this movie, and how amazing it is, it did have some flaws. While I said that I really enjoyed the story the first act was really slow and padded out. I didn't have a huge problem with that but there were definitely parts that seemed a bit pointless. This is kind of a minor story spoiler but it happens in the first 30 minutes so 3.....…...................................... 2................................................................. 1................................................................. (spoiler parentheses on)(Christian Bales character gets in an accident and gets charged with drunk driving so he gets put in jail. The entire jail sequence was pretty pointless because his character didn't change from that experience at all. It really only gives his wife a reason to leave him for Forest Whitaker's character.). OKAY SPOILERS OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Another thing is that even though he gave an amazing performance as a broken man he seriously needs to learn to anunciate. I couldn't understand what he was saying sometimes and it really annoyed me because the dialogue was amazing. Another person who spoke strangely was Forest Whitaker. He was trying to do a southern accent but.......he wasn't very good at it. There was also a very good sad scene that was completely marred because for some reason he sounded like Batman which was.........odd.
I can definitely see why some people didn't like this movie but if you have the patience, this movie is incredible and rewarding. It's really not for everyone but if you like slow-burn dramas definitely see this movie.
9/10 a slow but rewarding movie that will depress you in a really, really good way.
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