Out of the Furnace is the new working-class crime movie with a great cast (Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Willem Dafoe, Woody Harrelson, Forrest Whitaker, Zoe Saldana) that looks really good (in a grimy, down-trodden sort of way) but is insufferably boring, plodding, and unfocused. It’s really a terrible movie in all the trapping of a good movie. About the only good thing is Woody Harrelson’s violent, mean hilljack… who ultimately isn’t in the movie very much… (though I’m amused to think if any teens who know him from Hunger Games will be shocked at what a heel he is in this).

It’s more about how terrible and downtrodden the working class in a craphole factory town live their lives and get screwed over by the man, the economy, etc. than it is the revenge thriller the trailers suggest it is… which is fine if it had been more interesting or had a better take – any take – on how crappy their lives are. Instead, it ambles around, barely tells a story, and then it ends – and ends again with a pointless one-shot scene.

If you want to see an Oscar-bait movie about downtrodden, working-class stiffs handling crime in the best way they can, see Prisoners (the one with Hugh Jackman). If you want to see a pulp action flick about downtrodden working class sitffs, see Homefront (that Jason Statham flick I mentioned last time). If you want to see a Hunger Games cast member in a dark, depressing movie about hilljack revenge, see Winter’s Bone (with Jennifer Lawrence).

Score: 57