Review of Detroit (2017) by Patrick L — 14 Nov 2017

"Kathryn Bigelow's "Detroit" is without a doubt an intense cinematic experience but it doesn't exactly reach gut-wrenchingly good territory".

Movie Review: Detroit.

Date Viewed: August 5 2017.

Directed By Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break, Blue Steel, The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty, Strange Days and K-19: The Widowmaker).

Written By Mark Boal.

Starring: John Boyega, Will Poulter, Algee Smith, Jacob Latimore, Jason Mitchell, Hannah Murray, Kaitlyn Dever, Jack Reynor, John Krasinski, Anthony Mackie, Joseph David-Jones, Ben O'Toole, Jeremy Strong, Ephraim Sykes, Leon Thomas III, Nathan Davis Jr., Peyton Alex Smith, Malcolm David Kelley, Chris Chalk, Gbenga Akinnagbe and Laz Alonso.

Kathryn Bigelow's "Detroit" is without a doubt an intense cinematic experience. Bigelow gets the settings right, she gets the time period right, she gets the costumes right as well and she can definitely generate tension and suspense but "Detroit" doesn't exactly reach gut-wrenchingly good territory. It's still a good movie but "Detroit" doesn't have the same hard-hitting storytelling we got from Kathryn Bigelow's two previous efforts, her Oscar-winning masterpiece "The Hurt Locker" and "Zero Dark Thirty".

Don't get me wrong, this powerful true story about the civil unrest that broke out in Detroit in 1967 needed to be told but I wish it could've been told better. There's no doubt that Mark Boal's screenplay is very relevant and delivers a mighty impact on you and the movie has an impressive ensemble cast but in my opinion, the way the police are treated in this film was a little over the top for me. Okay, I know that the African-American community is not exactly a big cheerleader for law enforcement right now due to the recent shootings of unarmed black men and unfair treatment of blacks in America but in my opinion, we need the police, their job is to protect and serve and arrest people who break the law.

"Detroit" takes place in 1967 where the Detroit police stage a raid on an unlicensed club where they arrest several black men, most of them were just returning home from Vietnam. Soon, a mob starts breaking out, they throw rocks at police officers, they loot nearby stores and set several buildings on fire. The Detroit riots immediately began and the whole city became a pressure cooker waiting to explode. We later shift gears to the infamous Algiers Motel incident where we meet our main characters.

We first follow Larry Reed (Algee Smith) and Fred Temple (Jacob Latimore), two black R&B singers who are about to head home after a canceled gig but their bus gets attacked by rioters and they decide to take refuge at the Algiers Motel. Once there, they meet two white girls, Julie Ann (Hannah Murray) and Karen (Kaitlyn Dever) and their black friends, Carl Cooper (Jason Mitchell) and Aubrey Pollard (Nathan Davis Jr.).

When Carl and Aubrey stage a prank using a starter's pistol, this leads to the police knocking on their door. The police suspect that a supposed sniper fired the shot and they fire multiple rounds at the Algiers hotel. Soon, a detachment of police officers led by Philip Krauss (Will Poulter), Demens (Jack Reynor) and Flynn (Ben O'Toole) arrive at the scene. Carl tries to flee the scene but he gets gunned down by Krauss. Next, the three racist cops brutally terrorize and interrogate seven black men including a Vietnam war veteran named Greene (Anthony Mackie) and the two white women.

Meanwhile, John Boyega (from "Star Wars: The Force Awakens") plays Melvin Dismukes, a private security guard who gets assigned to protect a grocery store from being looted. Eventually, Dismukes leaves his post to help out in the ongoing police effort in the Algiers motel and see if he can stabilize the situation from getting worse. The racial tension presented in this movie feels completely relevant due to today's racial tension in America but keep in mind, the Black Lives Matter movement was orchestrated and funded by Obama and George Soros.

Kathryn Bigelow's (Point Break, The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty, Blue Steel and Strange Days) film is well-crafted and solidly acted and she captures the psychological terror and claustrophobia on that faithful night very well but Will Poulter's portrayal as Officer Krauss I thought was exceedingly over the top. I'm not being dismissive of his performance here, Poulter is a fine actor but the movie makes Krauss so vile and cartoonishly evil, that aspect alone dragged the movie down for me. There are some stand-out performances here including John Boyega as the sensitive security officer and Algee Smith and Jacob Latimore give star-making performances as the two R&B singers who end up taking refuge in the wrong place at the wrong time. "Detroit" is not an easy movie to sit through, it has so much intensity and suspense, it almost left me gobsmacked.

Even though "Detroit" is one of those films that's designed to fuel anger inside of you once you leave the theater, I didn't feel any compassion or rage. Despite it's flaws and it's disappointingly predictable conclusion, you should go out and see this movie.