Review: Bale, Affleck shine in slow, uneven ‘Out of the Furnace’

Posted on December 13, 2013

When I left “Out of the Furnace,” the dark-themed drama from director Scott Cooper (“Crazy Heart”), I had a pretty good idea about what I felt about it. But I wasn’t sure how to put it in words.

There is one thing for sure: “Out of the Furnace” features some great acting, from Christian Bale (“The Dark Knight Rises”) and Casey Affleck (“Ocean’s 11”) to Woody Harrelson (“Now You See Me”) and Zoe Saldana (“Star Trek”). If this had not already been a very solid year for acting, and the movie itself was better, I could see a few nominations being eked out here, especially for Affleck.

Unfortunately, the movie isn’t as good as its actors. I guess the problem comes down to, after sitting through nearly two hours of horrible things happening to people, when the credits began to roll, I was left with a feeling of, “Well…that happened.”

And really, after all of the effort put into the project, you’re really hoping for something more than that.

The film is rated R for strong violence, language and drug content.

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