Out of the Furnace [Blu-Ray]
Director: Scott Cooper
Cast: Christian Bale, Casey Affleck,Woody Harrelson
Release Date: Now Available on Blu-Ray & DVD
A Review By: Kevin Lovell
Film Rating: 9/10
Disc Rating: 9/10
Plot Summary:
When Rodney Baze mysteriously disappears and law enforcement doesn’t follow through fast enough, his older brother, Russell, takes matters into his own hands to find justice.
‘Out of the Furnace’ is the new film from acclaimed filmmaker Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart) and follows the journey of one man (Bale) as his life takes some challenging twists and turns that he is forced to endure and overcome. He works at the mill and does his best to work hard and provide, but one night makes a mistake that results in jail time. After eventually being released some time later he is forced to try and find his way back into society with so many previous elements of his life having changed in the time that he’s been away. He must also try and protect his brother (Affleck) as he gets involved in betting and fighting matches with some folks he definitely shouldn’t be associating with.
This really is filmmaking at its best, and Scott Cooper does a phenomenal job handling this one. The sets, the mood, and almost every aspect of this film are executed admirably with an impressive eye to detail. On top of this wonderfully coordinated film as a whole, we also have a truly outstanding cast including the likes of Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Forest Whitaker, Willem Dafoe, and Sam Shepard to name a few and all of them are at the top of their game here. While every one of their performances was fantastic, I think Woody Harrelson definitely stole the show here. I’ve never seen him play such a truly evil and despicable character, and he portrayed the role with such an impressive energy and ferocity that it’s almost frightening.
VIDEO:
The Blu-Ray release of ‘Out of the Furnace’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 2.40:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks stunning and really brings every detail of this films gorgeous scenery and attention to detail to life in wonderful clarity, while still maintaining the tone and grittiness that helps to accentuate the mood of this film so effectively. Everything looks pretty spot on for the most part on this high definition video presentation and I think most will be very satisfied.
AUDIO:
The Blu-Ray release features a lossless 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack which while it doesn’t produce a whole lot of activity throughout all five channels, still really helps contribute to the tone of the film in a huge way, most notably with the beautiful score of this film that is really complimented with how sharp and discrete it is presented here. When the action sequences do occur the surround channels get a chance to strut their stuff a tad, but they never really get a full workout, though that is in no way a disparaging remark in reference to the soundtrack, but merely what one would expect from this calm and emotionally effective film.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The Blu-Ray release of ‘Out of the Furnace’ features some interesting and informative bonus content that film buffs and fans of the cast and crew of this one will certainly appreciate. Included is ‘Inspiration’ which features the stars of the film discussing their motivations in becoming an actor, ‘A Discussion with co-writer/Director Scott Cooper’ ‘The Music of Out of the Furnace’ as well as my personal favorite ‘Crafting the fight scenes’ which gives a lot of insight into the strenuous process that went into making the fight scenes so realistic, and also the impressive amount of the training and dedication Casey Affleck endured to fit into his character and make sure it worked flawlessly.
*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of Relativity Media & 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
Film Rating: 9/10
Disc Rating: 9/10
‘Out of the Furnace’ is now available to own on Blu-Ray & DVD from Relativity Media & 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.