Out of the Furnace

“You and me, we’re fucking done professionally!” I wonder if Bale is screaming that at director Scott Cooper and producers Ridley Scott and Leo Dicaprio right about now. Or maybe he’s too much of an “artist” to care how well his movies do in the theater. Either way, Hollywood should know better than to put a depressing movie like Out of the Furnace out during the holiday season. People are depressed and stressed out enough as it is without having to pay money to make themselves feel suicidal after sitting in a large dark room and crying over beautiful people’s problems. It didn’t really affect me because I will gladly pay money to see someone who has more issues than I do. I walk out thinking that it’s not so bad after all to be stuck in a dead end job, while maintaining a blog that no one reads, and slowly realizing that I may have a drinking problem! At least I know that Christian Bale’s dog is dying of syphilis! With that said, I walked into Furnace with the high hopes that it would supply me with exactly what I needed to get me through the week.

The movie takes place in a rural town where it looks like the only thing to do for fun is meth. Bale is a hard working man at the factory who has a beautiful black girlfriend in Zoe Saldana and a brother who is desperately trying to do everything he can to keep from working at the factory. Casey Affleck plays Bale’s brother, and he is a difficult kid that has to be repeatedly bailed out of of trouble by his older brother; but there is hope for him as he has enlisted in the army in the hopes that this will give his life some structure. Just before he leaves however, Bale, gets in a drunk driving accident that promptly lands him in jail. It’s from this point on that everything goes downhill. Affleck comes back from the war clearly disturbed by the events that took place over there and when Bale is released, he finds himself coming back to an empty home as his girlfriend has left him for a local cop. Man that’s rough, you would think that Black women would be used to their men doing a bid in jail; rap music prepares them for this! I kid, I kid.

Well things eventually get worse as Affleck finds himself mixed up with some inbreds from New Jersey who allow him to “compete” in their illegal underground fights. I put compete in quotes because the fights are all rigged and it all depends on whether or not Affleck takes a dive or not. The problem is, he’s a hot head and is totally unpredictable. Well wouldn’t you know it, certain events take place and Affleck winds up missing. This once again leads to Bale having to try and come to his rescue while at the same time dealing with his own demons.

The leader of the inbreds is Woody Harrelson. At first you find it hard to see Woody from Cheers as this scary badass, but the film’s opening scene of him getting hammered in a car at the drive in quickly convinces you. The scene is both scary and odd as it involves him forcing his date to do something strange with a hot dog and this eventually leads to him getting out of the car and beating the crap out of innocent bystanders. Sound like a movie full of uplifting moments just in time for Christmas? Well I am not telling you half of the depressing stuff that happens.

I actually really liked this movie for the reasons stated earlier but also because of Bale. I don’t think this movie works without him. There are quite a few scenes that would normally come off as corny if he weren’t there to provide some balance. And even in a few of those scenes, he wasn’t able to keep me from chuckling. But overall, the theme of protecting family at all cost resonated with me and provided me with the entertainment I was looking for. I rate this movie as FRESH and suggest you check it out January 1.