Review of Detroit (2017) by Alan W — 22 Aug 2017

The latest from director Kathryn Bigalow and writer Mark Boal following The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty is another unbearably tense film about violent conflicts set against a historical background, only this time the story is real and we return to US soil in 1967 during the riots in the titular city.

This is an impressive film full of Oscar baiting themes and extraordinary performances by a bunch of up and coming young actors, with quite a few non-Americans giving their best American accents a workout.

While Will Poulter stands out as the film's hateful anti-protagonist, there is also The Force Awakens's John Boyega doing his best Sidney Poitier/Denzel impression, though his role is limited by the real-life passivity of his character's involvement, which both surprises and frustrates me narratively.

This is a long film with a slow, seemingly meandering build-up and you will feel the 143 minutes duration but it is worth your patience as once all the various strands coalesce under one roof for the relentlessly tense interrogation that will end tragically for some, every claustrophobic moment spent there is like living under a powder keg that's about to explode any second.

By the time the ordeal is finally finished, the audience is left emotionally exhausted but the film carries on to explore the aftermath in order to highlight issues that are still relevant 50 years later.

This is a meticulously researched and executed film that aims to present the facts as objectively as possible without demonizing. It might not be your typical Friday night entertainment and certainly not an easy sell to audience looking for a bit of escapism, nevertheless, its poignant pertinency to the world at present is undeniable and the events depicted demand maximum exposure in order to shine a light on the injustice of it all.