Review of Detroit (2017) by Judahjsn — 06 Aug 2017

This movie seemed to lack a reason for being. I felt like I was watching several movies stitched together and a good hour of that seemed to be torture porn that went on far longer than necessary. There are great performances here and one major character arc that makes it somewhat compelling but for all its violence and handheld camerawork (can the shaky cam die already?) it was surprisingly dull.

There is something I really admired about the concept here: the decision to attempt to tell the story of the riots and by extension the story of Detroit and police on black violence, through this one seemingly atypical event, has merit.

You've got the white cops with their own personal rage, fear and sadism and the black community cowering in fear, making many self-desctructive decisions out of spite. At first I thought it was too broad to name the film Detroit but after thinking on it it feels right.