Review of Detroit (2017) by Rebecca31 — 08 Aug 2017

The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty. Two terrific movies stamped on the poster of a mediocre thrown together film about the Detroit riots. Or is it about the riots? It’s a little hard to tell. Detroit takes you in so many directions it throws all these characters and their subplots at you. Oh and don’t forget to mix in some real footage of the riots so the audience doesn’t forget what they’re supposed to be watching. You have John Boyega’s character and all his problems, Will Poulter the racist cop and his issues but let’s not forget Algee Smith aka Larry the soul singer who will break into song at every single opportunity.

It’s hard to believe this film was made by the same person it changes tone so often. The story has no idea what it wants to focus on and you’re left with a mess. Once all the characters introductions are out of the way and a few clips of news footage the story decides to bring us in a slightly different direction eventually leading to the events that took place in the Algiers Motel. This section is my problem, for an hour you’re subjected to this horrendous interaction that I can only describe as comical torture porn reminiscent of “Funny Games”. Believe me that’s the last thing I expected from Detroit. The script is hilariously terrible I never once believed the idiotic things these characters were saying to each other, nothing ever felt natural. The dialogue, Will Poulter’s over the top I’m gonna totally kill every last one of you and I’m gonna smile while I do it performance. This segment feels completely out of place, a separate movie within another movie. A bad horror movie.

But wait there’s more. After the seemingly endless endurance test you also have to sit through the aftermath of the motel incident in the most rushed together court room scene I have ever watched. Honestly at this point the movie had well and truly lost me so I just didn’t care anymore. Detroit wanted me to be on the edge of my seat instead I was slouched down fighting off sleep because oh yes we’re about to sit through another song by Larry. Yeah that’s what the movie needs more singing. I didn’t expect to love this but I also didn’t expect to hate it quite as much as I did. So just in case you couldn’t tell I didn’t like Detroit one bit. Not recommended.