Beginning in 2008 on the cusp of Barack Obama's inauguration, the hopeful
wind of change has apparently not hit the poor industry town of Braddock, PA.
It's there we find Russell Baze (Christian Bale), a man who has moved beyond a
trouble past and settled into a comfortable, if meager existence working in the
town mill. His brother Rodney (Casey Affleck) is all pent up rage and PTSD, a
soldier returned home and found nothing waiting for him but a life he tried to
escape in the first place. He's up to his neck in debt, and the only way he can
slip back into civilian life is through bare knuckle brawls, earning a few
dollars putting his body on the line yet again. He's eager for the pain,
nervous for it, like an addict looking for a fix. The brothers love one another,
that much is clear, but their relationship is lukewarm with disappointment and
long-held grudges.
While the brothers prove to be the film's heart, the dark and menacing tone
permeating it is established right from the start with the introduction of
Harlan DeGroat. Played with brutal efficiency by Woody Harrelson, DeGroat is a
whirlwind of cruel violence, capable of unleashing his terrible wrath at a
moment's notice, ruling over the town like some backwoods crime lord. It's
DeGroat who runs the underground brawls that Rodney has been sucked into,
mostly to get out of debt to a nice-guy loan shark (Willem Dafoe) we know has
no place in this ugly world. When Russell makes a terrible error in judgment
and finds himself thrown behind bars, Rodney is hopelessly left to his own
devices and sinks further into trouble. When DeGroat asks him to take a dive in
big fight, it's just another treacherous step on a path that isn't too hard to
predict. 
Out of the Furnace is the slowest of slow burns, especially in the
meandering first act as under-motivated characters flit in and out, such as
Russell's one-time girlfriend Lena (Zoe Saldana) and the brothers' stoic uncle,
Red (Sam Shepard). She represents hope for a better future, and when she
eventually hooks up with the town sheriff (Forest Whitaker) while Russell is
behind bars, it's another kick in the teeth from a life that has already been
cruel. Cooper's deliberate pacing gives the film a true lived-in quality, and
the dilapidated ruins of steel town Pennsylvania makes for a powerful backdrop
character, captured by cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi. The film's
aimlessness eventually gives way to a straight-forward tale of vengeance that
Cooper and screenwriter Brad Inglesby seem to think is more profound but is
actually is. It's one of those movies that mistakes ambiguity for significance
and its theme of hopeless men driven to the brink by limited choices is a
familiar one, and despairingly ends with the burst of vigilante justice that
was apparent from the very beginning. 
The supporting characters don't get much to work with, and the idea of
Saldana ever being with Forest Whitaker is laughable even in a dramatic piece
like this, but the main performances are big and handled with a delicate touch.
All except for Harrelson, whose DeGroat is easily the nastiest he's ever
played, which is really saying something. It's a big, commanding turn for
Harrelson that sees him reach into the ugliest corners of his soul to play this
monster of a man. In the less flashy of his two roles this season (the other
being his combed-over turn in American Hustle), Christian Bale embodies a good
man worn down to the nub. Like the other men in his family, Russell isn't the
emotive type. He's a guy who keeps his dreams and fears buried away inside, but
the truth is there in the hurt and hope in his eyes. In one especially
wrenching scene, Russell learns that Lena has moved on with her life while he
was in prison, and while he's happy for her the pain he's feeling is
obvious. He also shares some great moments with Affleck, who has the
trickiest part as the explosive Rodney, who is struggling with a return to
civilian life and the expectation of normalcy.Out of the Furnace wants to be a complex film full of complex characters but it works best as a simple piece of depression-era noir.
