Detroit

This is my first review. Not because I feel the movie was exceptionally good or bad, but because I feel like critics and reviewers appear to miss the main objective of this story.

Complaints about a lack of context are all over the place. The officers' motives & the real reason for the riots in general; those 2 aspects seem to iritate people greatly. Although I have to agree that these could have been worked out better, I don't feel like this was the movie's purpose. The story doesn't want to go too deep into the whole civil war that was going on in those times. It doesn't need to tell the story of how corrupt & unjust the force of law was back then. There are more recorded cases, movies, series & songs then we care to admit that factualize these terrible times. It simply serves as a base for a much more personal, much deeper story concerning that specific night and that specific place.

This movie is not about Detroit, or the riots. It's about what happened to those people in that motel in those couple hours. It's an emotional rollercoaster and a look in the minds of the victims as they went through hell and back. And once you realise this you'll find this is an excellent motion picture, with good acting, solid writing and directing and the capability of leaving you feeling empty, powerless and even ashamed.

That, to me, is a great movie. 8/10

Kathryn Bigelow is known for her documentary-style camera-work and the creation of an intense atmosphere. This can be seen, either from the early work like Near Dark and Point Break, or from her more recent films such as The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. In one word, she is a good director for thrillers.

But Detroit is not a pure thriller. It is more like a period drama. On the one hand, the interrogation in the motel is the thriller part of the film, and without any doubt, it is brilliant. The audience keep wondering what would happen next. On the other hand, the film as a whole is mediocre in story-telling and character development. The setup for the interrogation is unnecessarily too long. Also, the courtroom process after the interrogation is too short. For more than once, Bigelow just simply displays lots of texts on the screen to make up for her unbalanced story-telling. John Boyega's character could have been the most impressive because he is the most struggling one in conscience. Yet it turns out to be untrue due to the limited time and space given to the character.

Overall speaking, Detroit could have been a thought-provoking classic, but it lacks depth in the end. There is no deeper discussion on the cause of the injustice or the impact it is could bring to real life. One real classic period drama is Spielberg's Schindler's List. In this aspect, Bigelow is still one step away from being a great director.

One more thing, Will Poulter deserves a nomination for Oscar best supporting actor, whose performance is the key to the success of the thriller part.

This film tells the story of a night going desperately wrong in Detroit.

I knew the film would be disturbing, so I have put off watching it. And it is really disturbing. I feel so so sorry for the residents of the hotel. No one deserves to be treated like this. This film shows me just how it is to be an ethnic minority in Detroit at the time. The injustice is just shocking. I sympathise with the victims, and really wish that justice could prevail.

The facts, not alternative facts but the facts. Once you have that then the artist comes and tells us, dramatizes, enlightens without distorting the facts. I was sweating when Detroit ended but I needed to go back and check the historical records of the events. The movie is a faithful depiction of the facts with the artistic eye of the amazing Kathryn Bigelow to illustrate them. The film will make you mad, it will desolate you and anger you and force you as an American to ask yourself, how can this possibly be? Detroit as an artistic venture is a marvel with a cast of fantastic actors. Bravo!

Detroit is the latest addition to Kathryn Bigelow's lengthy filmography and it is the most Bigelow-esque film you'd come to expect from her. The film displays raw realism with the actors looking very real and naked from their famous personas. The story is jam packed and while I think this source material would have made a much better miniseries, Bigelow makes the story work with sacrificing some facts for the sake of cinema. The big question is: is it as good as the critics say it is? The answer: No. Not Close. But with that being said, it is a damn good movie that is definitely worth seeing.

Telling the story of three murdered African American men in a motel in Detroit during the city's infamous riots and civil rights movement, Detroit stars an all star cast that is certainly better on paper than they are in this film. John Boyega, Will Poulter, Jason Mitchell, Anthony Mackie, John Krasinski, and on and on-but none of them are really served as a main character. Bigelow is so determined on telling the facts of the case that she sacrifices good performances in order to give us a slice of reality. The film plays out like the most expensive reenactment of a tragedy on Investigation Discovery and, when looking at the facts of the case, this is the best compliment I can give the film. It sounds back handed but it is extremely informative even if it is picking a side in all of it. The one thing Bigelow does best is showing a true story like it is unfolding in front of you. She does it brilliantly in The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, but Detroit is where it is to a fault.

With a 140-plus minute running time and a gaggle of characters to keep track of, the story is just too big for a feature film and requires patience. Despite this, Kathryn Bigelow does her best to tame Mark Boal's bloated script to a digestible film and the results are mostly good. The performances from the actors are real, raw and authentic in every aspect but never enough to burst off the screen. Bigelow lets the events unfold and do that for them. Overall, Detroit is certainly a good film in need of an audience just a very patient one.