Detroit

Rating: 10/10 (6 August 2017)

While sitting through the new film, Detroit about the Detroit riots from 50 years ago and also what happened afterwards at The Algiers Motel, which could be described in no other terms than extreme police corruption, intimidation as well as flat out abuse of power and racism, it left me pondering as I sat in my theatre seat about how exactly I would rate this new film in my review for it and what also I would say about it. The problem proves to be a perplexing one because as one who reviews films would know, you basically have to review a film on a number of different levels and looking at several sections of criteria and merits within the film to give the film a proper rating and overall review. If, I was to look at this new film as someone who is overall judging the technical achievements, or faults within it when it comes to things such as direction, writing, cinematography, acting and just overall how this new movie was made I have to say with great and precise determination and praise that it far excels in each and every one of these levels of craft and overall filmmaking. There really is no weak link here because everything on a technical as well as skilled level is just done so well here and everyone both in front of and behind the camera has achieved true greatness with this film and I think however you felt about the film after you came out of viewing it, I think few people could say that it was poorly made, or even the least bit amateurish because nothing could be farther from the truth. It is probably the most skilled and polished piece of work I have seen thus far this year as far as sheer craft, technical ability and overall filmmaking talent goes. So why am I hesitating and not just singing the film's praises repeatedly over and over? My main problem lies not so much with the film's subject matter, or what it is about, because even though I am sure that there was much fabricating and the writer and director took a certain amount of liberties when telling this true story and even within the end credits it admits that some, or maybe more than we think of what we saw was up to the writer and director involved because some things that would make the film more coherent, or just that much more effective as far as storytelling goes was added, or dare I say made up to make things a bit juicier, or probably the best word I can use here is 'shocking'. I realize that to make a film powerful and overall to have a great affect upon it's audiences you have to leave your viewers sometimes with strong emotions, or a sense that what they just saw was powerful, or moving, or whatever adjective best suits the film in question. This is a story that definitely needs to be told to shame both the police force and attitudes of the law enforcement in this particular situation, but also raise questions about one's own moral duties, or questioning inwardly about what we ourselves would do in these particular situations. To film a story like this, I realize that to capture it authentically you do need to show some violence and brutality up to a certain point as well as both scare and perhaps even provoke your audience into some kind of fear, or tension to really get the mood across about what you are displaying on screen. On the other hand, I felt that while this film needed to be forceful with it's approach that it crossed on my levels what is appropriate and after awhile the language as well as the violence seemed to not just border, but over engulf itself by being far too excessive with it's use of screen violence and language that at times it was not only a turn off, but also quite unsettling as well. I realize the filmmakers really wanted to pack a punch with this story and the overall product and they certainly achieved that, but perhaps going to this far an extent was not necessary in my opinion and I feel that in the meantime they are going to turn off many potential viewers of this film and may even cause more sensitive audience members to leave the theatre in disgust. I feel that to make a film effective you do not need to resort to these type of tactics to get a response from your audience and again here it feels excessive and almost like it was trying to attack and manipulate the audience. However as far as technical achievements go this far far surpassed all my expectations on that level, so I am giving it a perfect rating for that alone as well as the fact that this is a story that needs to be told even if it would have been just as effective, or preferable if they toned down the brutality a notch. Overall you be the judge, but be forewarned.