A lot of positives from one of the best films of the year (so far)

Rating: 8/10 (30 August 2017)

Detroit is the latest in Kathryn Bigelow's unofficial "trilogy" into real world crime/war stories, that she has produced alongside screenwriter Mark Boal, alongside The Hurt Locker, which I didn't see but hear amazing things about, and Zero Dark Thirty, which I really enjoyed for its scope, intensity and bittersweet conclusion.
Detroit, unlike those films, is very much shot in a documentary format and look i.e. with the way the frames come up with the filters, the shaky cam kind of style, and the very continuing shots that obviously go on for a long time without stopping. I've always loved this about Bigelow - she's very much the American, female Paul Greengrass when it comes to this.
In terms of the cast, the film has very much an ensemble feel, with not really one central character; we follow the actions on the night by Desmukes, a security guard played by John Boyega, a soul and R&B singer Larry Reed played by Algee Smith about how him and a friend took refuge at the Algiers Hotel on that night, and the actions of the Police Officers led by the brutal Phillip Klauss played by Will Poulter before, during and after the night. There are also really great and brilliant supporting bit roles by Anthony Mackie and Jason Mitchell, also with Hannah Murray among others.
This film, much like Nolan's Dunkirk, wastes no time in throwing you right into the havoc - in many ways you can say that this film is very structurally similar - just before the credits roll, you see a news scroll of all the events that happen over song, before a lingering close-up of one of the main character's faces, or as close to with an ensemble film. Also, like Dunkirk, the film is incredibly tense with its action and focus, and the way in which it very comfortably covers the whole battle/riot very continuously. The character's are a bit more spread thin than in Dunkirk, with the notable exceptions of Klauss and Reed, both of which I will talk about in a moment, but ultimately works in its favour. Where the film differs from Dunkirk, and by extension Zero Dark Thirty, is the unrelenting bleakness of the whole film; it's no secret that whilst no-one knows for sure the events that took place that night, it's well acknowledged that Police get away with the brutality that took place that night, and that those practices, whilst immoral and disencouraged, still do happen.
The cast is probably the films most obvious strength - no-one feels like a actor, even though they've been in Game of Thrones, The Avengers and Star Wars among others - and the continuousness of takes, really ramp up the threat level. My only complaint with the film in general, aside from an occasional lack of music, is that the lack of a properly POV character does make the film a bit too hard to invest in; it does have a villain, but not really a hero, although that may be symbolic of the fact that there isn't really a hero.
In terms of the characters, they are quite uniformly appealing, with the main two standouts being Algee Smith's portrayal of the R&B singer who loses his best friend on the same night that he witnesses some truly ugly stuff, and comes out of the event with his perception and personality altered, with a really great emotional through line of optimistic about his music career, to scared for his life, to anger over his friend's death and the subsequent lack of justice, to new found contentment in leading a church gospel band. It's a great performance, especially from an actor as new as him. And then there's Phillip Klauss, played by Will Poulter, who really is amazing in his. Klauss is such an interesting villain, in that overall, he is just a cop; a very violent, means-justifies-the-end type of cop, but he's still a very low rung officer. Poulter has kind of got a reputation for playing soft characters, such as his role in We're The Millers and The Revenant, but in this is great as his menace maintains, to the point you're gutted with his lack of comeuppance. Him and Smith are very much Best Supporting Actor contenders in my books. John Boyega is good, but to be honest he's not in enough of the film to really talk about.
This is an important movie, that talks of a contemporary topic, and remembers to be good. I really enjoyed this movie, so go and check it out.