Out of the Furnace
OUT OF THE FURNACE
2013, Crime/Mystery & thriller, 1h 56m
TOMATOMETER198 Reviews
AUDIENCE SCORE25,000+ Ratings
WHAT TO KNOW
CRITICS CONSENSUS
While it may not make the most of its incredible cast, Out of the Furnace is still so packed with talent that it’s hard to turn away. Read critic reviews
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Runner Runner
WHERE TO WATCH
OUT OF THE FURNACE PHOTOS
MOVIE INFO
CAST & CREW
Russell Baze
Curtis DeGroat
Rodney Baze Jr.
Wesley Barnes
John Petty
Lena Warren
CRITIC REVIEWS FOR OUT OF THE FURNACE
… we receive an aimless, generic crime drama that cuts itself off at the knees early on and scrambles for relevancy thereafter.
Christian Bale still makes this rather run-of-the-mill proposition appealing, regardless of how oddly unfashionable he may currently be.
The varied performances yield much kindling for warming the heart, especially the scenes between the two brothers.
It’s the lead performances that are the thing here, not the clichéd screenplay. And boy, these boys are acting so hard they almost sweat their fake tattoos off.
With little in the way of originality, and much that is mockably macho, Out of the Furnace requires a fair amount of heavy lifting from the cast to elevate it from well-worn mundanity.
It never sings. The script is clunky, its outcome peculiarly futile.
If it did nothing else than rub America’s nose in the abominable treatment of soldiers returning from war, “Out of the Furnace” would more than justify itself. While it’s a depressing story, it’s also chock full of actor’s actors and therefore engrossing.
It turns from a straight-faced thriller with political aspirations into a bargain-basement Deliverance.
So focused on the dark you almost want to play it in reverse. Like the old joke goes: What do you get when you play a country song backwards? You get your house back, get your wife back…
Devoid of virtually any admirable emotions, characters, or resolutions.
The film suffers from the same as the previous one, a lot of correction, guaranteed entertainment, everything in its place, but an absolute lack of personality. [Full Review in Spanish]
…the good aspects of OUT OF THE FURNACE marginally outweigh the less imaginative elements.
AUDIENCE REVIEWS FOR OUT OF THE FURNACE
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Apr 07, 2016I am usually the first of the haters to criticize Christian Bale, as I never really thought much of him, but sometimes it just takes one performance to start to sway your mind in the other direction. Rarely do you see an actor cast in a role, that is absolutely perfect for them, but the lead role of Russell Baze fits Christian Bale like a glove. I have never seen Bale fit more easily into a role or take charge of a story the way he does here. Russell is an ex-con and the shame of his family. As Russell rots away in jail, his little brother, Rodney (Casey Affleck), has to take care of his ailing father, and try to keep Russell’s wife from leaving him. When Russell finally gets out of jail, Rodney, an amateur fighter, finally gets the chance to leave the rust belt and earn some real money. Rodney appears on his way to doing just that, when he disappears in a notoriously brutal part of the mountains, leaving his brother alone to try and do the right thing. Along the lines of Winter’s Bone, Joe, & Mud, Out of The Furnace is another dark, rural thrillers, that is all the rage in Hollywood these days, and while there are a lot of wannabes and copy-cats, when someone figures out the correct formula you end up with a gem like this. The writing here is Oscar worthy and the character development is everything I crave in a film. Out of The Furnace is under two hours long, but when it’s done, I feel as though I know the characters in the same was as if I’d just watched 100 episodes of some TV show. I felt their emotions, I was empathetic to their situations, and I was on the edge of my seating waiting to see what would happen next. These are all marks of a great film, and while I don’t really care for Christian Bale, he really has never been better.Todd SSUPER REVIEWER
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Aug 10, 2015The cast put in good performances and the story works. It’s not perfect, but it’s watchable.Marcus WSUPER REVIEWER
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Dec 30, 2014Well put together and directed despite the story’s predictability. Ultimately entertaining and gripping.Ed KSUPER REVIEWER
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Jul 15, 2014Mediocre at best. Starts out interestingly enough, but this movie gets distracted and unfocused. It doesn’t know which story it wants to tell, so it tells all of the characters’ stories, which just doesn’t work here. It’s trying to be about the two brothers, but it doesn’t focus on them enough for it to mean much. And the whole telling all the characters’ stories thing would work really well if this was a mini-series (maybe something they should look into) but just fails completely here because not enough background is given on most of the characters to make you care. So this is an ambitious attempt to tell a story but it ultimately falls short of whatever its goal was.Stephen SSUPER REVIEWER
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