Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow
Written by: Mark Boal
Stars: John Boyega, Anthony Mackie, Algee Smith

In ‘Detroit’, director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty), Hollywood’s go-to team for intimate, “boots on the ground” war movies, turn their attention to a different type of armed conflict – the 1960s race war fought in America’s inner cities (which many believe continues to this day).

Employing an often ineffective mix of documentary stills/footage, and dramatic recreations of events that happened (or may have happened) that night, Bigelow and Boal develop three strands of characters for us to follow, and, not undeservedly, wag an accusing and predictably self-righteous Hollywood finger at the Detroit Police Department.

After a painfully clumsy and tonally awkward animated history lesson on race and class in America, Bigelow immediately throws viewers into the middle of an already escalating conflict. While that does draw us in, it sets the “bad cops versus innocent black populace” dynamic in stone for the rest of the film.

That’s not to say they don’t deserve to be cast as villains, but it would be nice to give the police some context and motivation. It would make for a more impactful story. Right now, the police, mostly in the form of Will Poulter’s (The Maze Runner, Glassland) purely evil Officer Krauss, seem to be just genetically pre-disposed to hating, beating, and killing black people.

You can make the case that Bigelow limited character development to streamline the story. But the film is beyond unwieldy at 143 minutes, and feels as if it could have (or should have) ended three or four times before it finally does.

All that said, Bigelow is very good at capturing the frenzy of battle, and she’s equally up to the task here. Whether, we’re with the police as they pretend to murder a “suspect” (to scare the others in custody), or with looters as they break locks and shatter that first store window, it feels like we’re right there experiencing America’s unbridled hate, at a time when even befriending a black person could get you beaten.

The production design and general recreation of 1960s inner city America is nothing short of phenomenal here. From vintage Galaxy 500 sedans to authentic wallpaper in sedate tones (that contrast the action), plaid dresses, and cat-eye glasses, every detail seems to have been faithfully attended to, and the film is startlingly “real” because of it.

As Dismukes, the hard-working second shift security guard dragged into the seemingly never-ending interrogation of suspects, John Boyega (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) draws us in and breathes life into the conflict of being both black and a comrade in uniform. Additionally, there are a host of excellent supporting performances in this film. But, sadly, as with most “war” films, they come and go almost too quickly.

Yet that is Bigelow’s and Boal’s greatest gift here. They bring us face-to-face with the human cost of conflict, whether that’s shattered Motown dreams, finding a place in society after serving in the military, or simply making it through this one shift without getting blood on our hands.

Detroit opens in Irish cinemas on August 25.

Photos by Francois Duhamel – © 2017 – Annapurna Pictures