Out of the Furnace : Here's why this movie is good..

Up until the end of this movie i really didn't get it. I felt it was not impressive at all. But I did get it in the end. The strength of this movie is the hyper-realism. It's not some epic unbelievable story, or a story about some great hero. The protagonist is your average good person. He believes he should just work at the same job like his father and he doesn't make a commotion, not when his dad gets ill, not when he gets imprisoned just for having bad luck while driving, not when his girlfriend leaves him in jail. Even when his brother goes missing and the police are afraid of going into the gang territory, he still leaves things as they are. That's not very exciting but very very accurate. Only when the protagonist's brother dies(basically leaving him with no family) he decides to do something. He does not go crazy. He is the same person - who just got pushed until he came to the most logical conclusion. Not a very varied acting role for bale, but it's a very good portrayal of people's lives. A bit like a documentary.

The ending is also interesting. The protagonist is alone(having killed the cop or not? probably not). I imagine he spent more time in jail, got released and is now thinking back about his life. Was there something he could have done differently? Could have he saved his father or brother? And the bottom line is that he probably couldn't. He was raised into this type of life, abandoned by his country, there was not much chance for things to end up differently. And it's sad.

Very well put. I agree on every point.




~This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time.

If you have to explain why it was good, it wasn't good.

It's either good and you know it was good or it's just not.




"My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness." - The Dalai Lama

Thats a strange opinion. If i start describing what makes the Godfather good, its no longer a good movie then?

You can say that again. A movie, just like any cultural object, needs to be studied to be appreciated completely. Also, you benefit from a movie proportionately to how much you invest in it.

Whoever says "taste cannot be discussed" has never had a revolution in her musical taste. You know, finally "getting it" and starting to love that piece of music you used to hate. It's sad that many people will go through life without having this experience. And they will never have this experience because they think it is wrong to second-guess their immediate reaction to anything.

Guess what, if you cannot betray your first reaction to anything, you're a lousy learner.

A movie is NOT like sex.

Obviously not a fan of David Lynch!

I couldn't agree more. The movie part to me is the realism. It's not eye catching or filled with glamor because it's supposed to be routine. Day to day life in a town that the world has passed by and a guy who stands by his town, who he is, and his way of life. He owns his mistakes and feels others should own theirs. Very amazing portrayel of Baze by Bale as he is a blue collar no nonsense guy. Loved the atmosphere this movie created. It is so accurate to that area and is brilliant IMO. It was panned by some and it's def not for everyone but this movie is a great example of beauty is in thr eye of the beholder. Either you appreciate it or you don't and I loved it

I do agree, but as someone else mentioned - how much you appreciate a movie is affected by what you put into it. The same piece of art can evoke different feelings in different people, or the same person depending on their current state of mind.

There is, of course a line between something badly executed but with substance, and something that isn't worth the time of day (the parody film Superhero Movie, for example).

To me, this movie falls into the first category. Though I did enjoy how most of the scenes were directed, I did feel like they were pulling too hard on my heart strings to the point where it seemed almost contrived. They kept beating Bale up over and over, one tragedy after another, with characters I didn't really feel invested in, and then gave him an output to enact his vengeance through revenge for his brothers murder.

As I said, though, I do agree with you. There is a certain kind of hyper-realism you don't find often, and I appreciated that his revenge spree wasn't overplayed, but in fact played with a quiet kind of murderous deliberation.

I enjoyed it, but still felt it could have been much better.