Sporting an excellent cast and produced by Ridley Scott and Leonardo DiCaprio, Out of the Furnace has received generally mixed reviews from critics. Whilst it was far from what was expected, or what the write up indicated it would be, the film was still packed full of extremely talented actors and a deeply emotional and moving story.
Out of the Furnace follows the story of two brothers, Russell Baze (Christian Bale) and Rodney Baze (Casey Affleck). Both are stuck living in a backwater town where Russell works at the local mill, and Rodney has arrived home from the war in Iraq. When Rodney gets involved with a group of violent and sociopathic drug dealers, headed by Harlan DeGroat (Woody Harrelson), he goes mysteriously missing. When told by the chief of police that nothing can be done to find him, Russell takes it upon himself to seek justice for his brother. Forest Whitaker, Willem DaFoe and Zoe Saldana co-star.
Contrary to what the film was perhaps made out to be, this is no fast paced, mindless shooting, Christian Bale kicks ass film. Instead it sets a steady pace throughout the entirety of the movie. Each scene is exceptionally well thought out, and it goes out of its way to really get the emotions across. This is what makes Out of Furnace such a worthwhile watch. Even though the slower pace may take some getting used to (or might simply be boring to those who want a faster paced film) it is completely essential to the film as a whole. It focuses on the details, on the characters lives and their relationships with the people around them. In fact, the majority of the movie is made up of this. The real action only gets brought in near the end. 
However, the amount of feeling poured into every scene more than makes up for this. The film follows the events that lead up to Russell taking his revenge, and shows a lot of unfortunate events that occur in the brothers' lives. Therefore there are a lot of scenes where pain is the main emotion being portrayed. And the portrayal of the emotions is superb. Out of the Furnace really takes advantage of its spectacularly talented cast to make the film seem real. Bale really had the chance to shine in this movie, and he certainly took it. On screen, he wasn't just playing Russell Baze. He was Russell Baze. The same goes for Affleck, playing Rodney, who genuinely seems to emit pure, unfiltered rage in his scenes. And just to top it all off, Harrelson was undeniably fantastic as the phsycopathic drug dealer Harlan DeGroat. Seemingly competing in his own swearathon, Harrelson's character is also violent, ruthless, and agressive. All of these traits are acted out seamlessly. 
One of the most impressive features of Out of the Furnace is it's ability to be really thought provoking, and to make the audience feel what the characters are feeling. In this respect, it's safe to say that there are not many films like this, certainly not made recently. And there should be more of them. The raw emotion and feeling portrayed shows not only the superb acting skills of the amazing cast, but also leaves a lot of room for thought, and it makes for a lasting impression. A very memorable film.Far from being the typical revenge thriller, and sometimes lagging pace. However, Out of the Furnace has an amazing cast, who put on an outstanding performance. With tonnes of emotion poured into every second of it, this film is definitely worth a watch. 3/5
