Woody Harrelson stars as Harlan DeGroat; a degenerate modern
day outlaw; in this engaging drama about
the modern criminal underworld. Russell Baze; played by Christian Bale; and
Rodney Baze; played by Casey Affleck; are two brothers from a steel mill town
in Pennsylvania. Rodney is just back from
his 4th tour in Iraq and is not interested in following his brother
and father into the steel mills just outside Scranton, Pennsylvania. He has
seen their lives degenerate into poverty and illness, and he vows to make
something better for himself. But what can he do?
After coming back from his last “stop loss” extension in
Iraq Rodney has a lot to be angry about. And a local fight promoter named John
Petty; played by Willem Dafoe; is there to exploit that anger as he loans the
boy enough money to force him to work off the debt in the ring. Of course Rodney
owes Petty more money than he can ever earn in these local fights; unless he
takes a “dive” to ensure that Petty wins. But this is something he just cannot
seem to make himself do.
Looking at a long future of small time fights leaves him
longing for the chance at one big fight to free him from the clutches of his
debt to Petty. Petty warns him of the dangers involved in going up against some
of these other men, but his warnings go unheeded and Petty sets up the match.
The man who controls the fighting game in the area of New Jersey where they go
is named Harlan DeGroat and is played brilliantly by Woody Harrelson. From the
opening scene in the drive in theater you will loathe this character.
Forrest Whitaker plays local Sheriff Wesley Barnes, who arrests
Russell for a DUI. Russell had just paid off Rodney’s gambling debts to Petty. His
brother doesn’t know this and so thinks he is still indebted to the loan shark/promoter.
In addition, his girlfriend Zoe; played by Lena Taylor; thinks he has abandoned
her and is now pregnant with the Sheriff’s child.
When everything goes wrong at the fight in the hills with Harlan
DeGroat and his crew, Petty is killed and Rodney goes missing. Russell sets off
to find him, mistaking the Sheriff’s methodical ways as stonewalling due to the
tangled relationship they have concerning Zoe. In reality that is not true.
Knowing that chasing down someone like Harlan DeGroat will get him killed he
tries to dissuade Russell from going after him.
But trying to stop Russell from looking for his brother is
like trying to stop the wind; it can’t be done. And when he does find him the
results are almost predictable, as Russell’s anger seems to have leapt out of
the furnace as he extracts his revenge.
This film is written, filmed and directed in a way which
will keep you engrossed in the plot and have you feeling involved and
sympathetic with the Baze brothers as they attempt to navigate the waters of
fate which ultimately come to engulf them.
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