Intense and edge of your seat with a couple of narrative perspectives of the Detroit riot.

Rating: 8/10 (21 December 2017)

Detroit is an intense crime drama film that holds you to the seat to the final moments of the movie. Being based on a true story during the Detroit riot in July 1967, when the African americans were rising up against the police when they are mistreating them.
The action begins when a police raid stops a party for a returned veteran. And from there are a couple of narrative stories one about a lead singer from the group called The Dramatics. When their concert was interrupted from the riots, they hold up in a hotel for the night. Then, there is a security guard Melvin (John Boyega) who is protecting a store from being attacked from the riot. When he hears gunshots leading to the hotel. He goes to check it out. Along with three officers Philip (Will Poulter), and two others. Philip and his two other officers try to hold up the hotel were there is nothing but African americans and two girls Julie (Hannah Murray) and Karen (Kaitlyn Dever). Philip and his two men hold up the people in the hotel and beat them down until someone gives up the suspect that shot a gun out of the hotel window.
Director Kathryn Bigelow does well building up the suspense. She did decent with The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. Detroit starts with the intense build up with the few narrative stories that eventually connect when they meet up in the climatic hotel. The emotionality with the characters to see innocent lives getting harassed and beat. It is a tough film to watch. John Boyega plays Melvin a guy that is for hire as a security to protect shops from being vandalized. A guy that holds his emotions when he sees people being mistreated horribly. Will Poulter playing an officer that is on the urge of hunting down any one he sees. As we see him in the opening sequence with his officers chasing a guy down, who was just carrying grocery bags for his family. The tone and direction says it all with these characters and how brutal they can be.
The climatic sequence when these characters are being forced to face against a wall, as one by one are being interrogated with brutality and fear. It is an intense sequence, but well done with the direction and intensity.
The couple of things I felt like it did not work with the film is after its second act. The film slows down and never gets back up. It goes through the court scene and some aftermath of the lead singer from The Dramatics having trouble and being shaken up from the treatment. Also, I felt like they could have trimmed and edited down like 20 minutes or so. Some scenes felt like they have been playing for too long like a long monologue singing sequence with the singer.
Overall, Detroit is a good crime drama film. The direction built up the suspense for the first two acts of the film. And it never slowed down until the end. The actors were great. The plot was brutal to see with the events of the riot but true.
I rate the film 4 out of 5 stars. I recommend checking the film out if you care about historical true stories.