Some films grab you from the first scene, and ‘Out Of The Furnace’ directed by Scott Cooper, from a script he wrote with, Brad Ingelsby is one of those.
Not wanting to spoil it for you, let’s just say it involves, Woody Harrelson, his girlfriend, a drive in movie and a hot dog.
Woody plays, Harlan DeGroat, a crazy redneck, living in the backwoods of Pennsylvania. Besides having an off the charts violent temper, DeGroat is the leader of a gang of thugs, whose collective I.Q points hardly equals 50.
But he’s not the center of the film, even though he plays a very significant part of what occurs.
The focus of ‘Out of the Furnace’ which takes place during Obama’a first Presidential campaign, are two brothers…Russell Baze (Christian Bale) and his younger brother Rodney (Casey Affleck.
When Russel is not taking care of his dad, he works in the local steel mill, that’s about to close..
Rodney, on the other hand, has just returned to the States after serving four tours in Iraq. Too say he’s a little on edge, is putting it mildly.
Even though Russell’s father is dying of cancer, the guy is making the best of it. Of course his drop dead gorgeous girlfriend, Lena, (Zoe Saldana) makes his life more than bearable.
That is, until one night, an unforeseen event, changes everything for him.
‘Out of the Furnace’ is the story what happens when a man has lost everything, except his need for revenge.
The film is extremely violent and depressing…It’s also a story I’ve seen more than once. Yes the performances, including William Dafoe, Forrest Whitaker, and Sam Shepherd are all fine, but in the end, I would wait to see this on Netflix.
For that reason, I gave ‘Out Of The Furnace’ which opens in theatres, Friday, December 7, 2013, three bagels out of five.
Check out our video for more of my thoughts and John’s bagel score.
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