When bringing historically based stories to the big screen, the key to making them successful is the authenticity that each of their respective filmmakers bring to the table. The stories not only have to be compelling ones that'll keep the audience invested in both the plot and characters, but the execution has to be both believable and convincing. With Detroit, Oscar winning director Kathryn Bigelow who previously helmed The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, goes all in with bringing 1960's Detroit to the big screen in a fashion that's both intense as well as being hard-hitting from start to finish. Released in August 2017, the film received strong reviews from critics but was largely overlooked during its initial award season. The latter proves to be a shame as Bigelow once again brings history to the big screen in a form that's not just compelling to watch, but manages to serve as being a powerful and gut-wrenching experience that also feels reflective of today's world despite the stories setting taking place in 1967 Detroit.
Based on true events, the story for Detroit centers around the infamous 12th Street Riot which rocked the city of Detroit to its core in July 1967, that was followed by alleged sniper fire at the Algiers Motel which ultimately caused the Detroit Police, the Michigan State Police, and the National Guard to seize control of the motel and its guests. Upon doing so, a small group of gung-ho police officers and their ring leader (Played by Will Pouter) abusively interrogate the motels guests and ultimately kill three men with the other 11 suspects being brutally beaten and tortured. Detroit's plot is one that's pieced together from numerous facts and testimonies of those involved with Bigelow effectively taking audiences back in time with them receiving the full experience of witnessing the mistreatment and injustice that the 11 individuals being held at the motel endured during their detainment with police. She makes no attempts in holding back on the horror and brutality those individuals endured during their questioning, with her presenting audiences with an accurate testimony of a dark chapter in American history while positioning the story as being a reflection of today's issues regarding police brutality and the outrage it inspires. With Detroit, Bigelow once again puts both her skills and craftsmanship as a filmmaker on full display with the film instantly pulling audiences into the story from the start and not letting up until the credits roll. It's an extremely tense, haunting, and timely moving experience that audiences of all backgrounds should absorb and take in at least once. Detroit provides audiences with a hard and sobering reality that those we deem to be the ones that would come to our aid are not always whom they appear to be. One cannot think of a more qualified filmmaker to bring the story of Detroit to the big screen than the filmmaker who gave us highly effective work such as The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. In an era that's riddled by fatal police shootings as well as the murder of George Floyd, that sparked riots across the country, Detroit feels like the film that's absolutely needed in the present with it carrying nothing less than a firm grip on its own form of storytelling.
As well told as Detroit is in regards to Bigelow's directing, it's the fantastic performances from its main cast that sell it as being an extremely powerful moviegoing experience. The performances given here range from being raw to deeply unsettling work with everyone bringing their A game to their roles, while approaching each part with a certain amount of humility and understanding. There isn't one performance given, that ranks as being poor nor lackluster with everyone giving their all with the best performances from the film coming from John Boyega, Will Poulter, and Algee Smith in their respective roles of the real life individuals they portray. Boyega continues to shine as well as extend his growth as a serious dramatic actor with his role as private security guard Melvin Dismukes, whose assigned to protect a grocery store from local looters during the riots while integrating himself with the Guardsmen who end up taking over the motel. Boyega does a great job of conveying his characters silent fear and disapproval of what's happening around him in the motel between the police and those detained with his character having no choice but to go along with it. He shows the conflict his character goes through eternally in being fully aware of the injustice occurring around him, while doing whatever subtle things he can to help other people of color avoid being brutally tortured and killed by police. If one wasn't won over by his acting in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, they'll be won over by his range here as being a serious dramatic actor. Will Pouter greatly impresses as corrupt police officer Philip Krauss, who leads the charge in holding members of the Dramatics R&B music band as well as the rest of the motel guests for questioning, while beginning to demonstrate his clear and unapologetic abuse of power. Poulter's character is shown as being crooked from the start with him chasing down and shooting a looter in the back with a shotgun prior to the events in the motel with his character being allowed to remain on duty until his superiors can decide whether to deliver murder charges or not. Poulter effectively plays his character as being an on edge racist cop, who consistently abuses his power of authority behind closed doors with him ultimately realizing the mistake he made in regards to holding as well as beating the motel guests with him choosing to silence those who'd dare speak out against his actions. Poulter succeeds in making the audience completely despise his character along with being outraged at the lack of accountability he receives for his actions afterwards. Whereas both Boyega and Poulter largely impress with their performances, it's Algee Smith whose the true standout of the three with him playing Larry Reed, the lead singer of the R&B group called The Dramatics. Smith's performance is one that's both powerfully unsettling as well as deeply haunting to watch with the audience first seeing his character as being passionate about wanting to make it as a singer to him being too traumatized about wanting to perform again after what his group endured at the hands of the police. Smith brings an enormous amount of emotional weight to the role with audiences being able to completely empathize with him. The rest of the films supporting cast is stellar with them delivering highly effective to noteworthy performances such as Jacob Latimore playing another member of the Dramatics group Fred Temple, with Jason Mitchell also being effective as motel guest Carol Cooper. Both Hannah Murray and Kaitlyn Dever deliver strong performances as the two young caucasian girls Julie Ann Hysell and Karen Malloy, who befriend the Dramatics group at the motel while being dragged into brutal questioning with the rest of the group. Other noteworthy supporting roles include Jack Reynor as unstabally corrupt police officers Demens and Ben O' Tool as Flynn with both Anthony Mackie and John Krasinski delivering effective supporting roles as Vietnam war vet Karl Greene, who gets wrongfully harassed and beaten by police, and Krasinski as the crooked coups defendant Auerbach. As shown, the cast for Detroit is well-put together and plays their roles with pure devotion in bringing their story to the screen in the most realistic way possible. Much of the films power in terms of being an emotionally gripping experience comes from the remarkable efforts the main cast puts into making the story work with them ultimately succeeding. The film wouldn't be as strong and memorable as it turns out to be without their involvement with everyone being perfectly cast in their parts, as well as mirroring their real life counterparts.
When it comes to directing, Kathryn Bigelow once again proves to be on top form with bringing another fact-based story to the big screen, along with making it an absorbing experience for audiences. Bigelow draws her audience in with the films title sequence, which informs the audience on the facts leading up to the riot with Bigelow instantly placing audiences in 1967 Detroit while steadily building up the suspense from there. She uses the same filmmaking style that she put forth on her previous works such as The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty with her using shaky camera work which gives the film a documentary style feel to it with its cinematography. The film is given a pace that's slow-burning yet builds up the suspense of the story as the events unfold. For audiences that aren't familiar with the events surrounding the 1967 Detroit riots or those that occurred in the Algiers motel, the story works as being a nail-biter for them. The film also thrives in the technical department with its authenticity regarding both the costume and set designs being appropriately used to place audiences in the films setting. The soundtrack also does well with combining music that properly fits the films 1960's setting, as well as the culture explored in the story. On a directing front, Bigelow doesn't disappoint and goes all in with delivering a gritty account of the infamous 12th Street Detroit riot. She shows the anger, fear, and frustration that many of those involved felt, as well as showing the targeted harassment and racism that was directed towards populated African-American communities by police. She makes no efforts in shying away from the sheer brutality of the moment, and aims for maximum effect with her abilities to get the sincerest performances out of her cast while effectively re-staging the events of the 1967 Detroit riots to give audiences the full picture of what happened. One of Bigelow's strongest traits as a filmmaker has always been her ability to place audiences in the moment while getting into the minds of the characters. It's a strategy that proved to work exceptionally well with her previous two directorial projects, and manages to do so again here.
The films script written by Mark Boal, serves as being the anchor that connects the audience with the events unfolding in the story. Boal succeeds in creating a strong foundation for the main characters to be fairly developed without the screenplay ever losing sight of the narratives main focus, which is the 12th Street Riot and its aftermath. Boal effectively establishes all of the films key players such as the the members of the Dramatics band to the corrupt Detroit police officers, that inevitably take over both the motel and its guests, with Boyega's character finding himself standing between the guests being brutalized by the police and the latter seeking his loyalty in helping them cover up their mistakes that night. The film also makes it a point to humanize all of its key players in a way which makes the audience understand the motives of the characters. The key police officers portrayed in the film are shown to be both young and inexperienced cops, who often let their own prejudices get in the way of performing their duties. The Dramatics are shown as being a young R&B group, who carry a thirst for making it big as a musical group with them finding themselves getting wrongfully caught up in the riot with tragic consequences. The script also does a notable job of covering all of the stories essential themes in the screenplay regarding police corruption, abuse, brutality, racism, premeditated murder, along with others that played into the emergence of the riots such as inequality, poverty, anger, fear, injustice, breaking the law, loss, survival, one struggling to start over, and both a bias and corrupt judicial system. The script effectively weaves all of these themes into the story without the films story-structure or narrative ever feeling as if it's being compromised. With Detroit, Boal waste no time in putting audiences at the center of the riots by masterfully showing the boiling of tensions occurring around the city in regards to its citizens view of the police mistreating them and vice versa. The audience is shown attempts by the neighborhoods district political figures to calm the crowd down amid rising tensions with little to no success as its citizens become tired of the injustices, as well as the inequalities that they face both economically and socially. The script for Detroit does a fantastic job of piecing together all of the main key events that occurred during the 1967 Detroit riots, while appropriately filling in the blanks with logical guesses that are fact-based along with the use of traditional dramatic licensing. The screenplay was always going to be the key as to whether the film succeeds of fails at being a worthy representation of one of the darkest chapters in American history. Thankfully Boal succeeds in balancing out the facts surrounding the riot, along with fleshing out the key players and giving audiences the full scope of how significant the 1967 Detroit race riots were in American history at the time with many of the films themes still at play in today's world.
With a film like Detroit, audiences are bound to be a bit hesitant in approaching it due to its power of reopening wounds that still feel fresh in the minds of many audiences choosing to either watch or avoid it. The film aims to entertain, inform, and ultimately get audiences to think about and reflect on the past while simultaneously reflecting on the present. Much of the films themes and scenarios draw frightening parallels to present day with Bigelow presenting audiences with the grim reality that the events that occurred in 1967 Detroit are not much different than the Ferguson riots, or the ones that preceded George Floyd's death at the hands of police. Detroit serves as being an emotionally gripping and deeply moving experience that feels surreal in its presentation, but is made with the noblest of intentions in showing the wrongs of the past, while making a conscious effort to wake its audience up to the ones that are being committed today in a similar fashion. It's a genuine shame that Detroit was totally overlooked during its initial awards season as the film warranted award nominations for Boyega, Poutter, and Smith's performances, as well as Best Picture, Director and Screenplay nominations for Bigelow and Boat. Detroit is one of the rare pieces of dramatic storytelling that not only manages to be faithful in bringing its subject matter to the big screen, but does so in a way that qualifies it as being essential viewing for historical purposes. One can only wonder what type of reception this film would've received had it came out in Dec 2017 during the height of that winters award season compared to a late summer release. One of the 2010's overlooked gems.
Final Verdict: For history buffs and those looking for thorough representation of African-Americans in film, Kathryn Bigelow's Detroit is an absolute must see with it grabbing the audience instantly from the start and not letting go until the end with it bound to remain with them long afterwards.
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