Bigelow gets it wrong

Rating: 7/10 (22 August 2017)

I'm a huge fan of director Kathryn Bigelow and when I heard that she was making this film and when rumours leaked out that it was going to primarily be focused on the Algiers motel murders I was more excited than ever. It seemed like the perfect project for Bigelow to tackle.
Unfortunately the result is a messy, gloopy, half-committed mess and Bigelow never quite succeeds at bringing to life a half-baked script.
Now to start off the film is not solely focused on the Algiers Motel incident. It's a film in three parts, the first dealing with the start of the riots in Detroit, the second zeroing in on the terror at the Algiers, and the third showing the trial that happened as a result of the Algiers murders.
Right away Bigelow gets it wrong. The rioting that took place is poorly explained and she and writer Mark Boal actually mostly shows the start of the riots from the perspective of the police, bizarrely making it seem like rioters were just interested in looting despite the fact that there were multiple reasons why they were angry and lashing out. As a result the first third of the movie is just like a noxious clash of violence and terror as Bigelow introduces and obliterates so many characters, the violence seeming random and unending and not in a good way. The final third of the movie is similarly sloppy; I've seen court room dramas handled with more grace, and subtlety on Law & Order.
However the middle section, at the Algiers, is where most of the pieces come together. If there's one thing to trust Bigelow on it's scenes of torture and she spares nothing when it comes to these scenes. Now I've heard criticism saying that these scenes amount to torture porn and I disagree, the violence in this section is necessary to show just how brutal what happened was. Bigelow isn't glorying in the moment but she isn't flinching away from it either. This happened and she wants her audiences to know it and understand it and feel angry and hurt and ashamed because of it.
Unfortunately the rest of the movie just doesn't rise to the level of the middle section leaving the film as a half-baked mess. Only because Bigelow is such a talent is the film still somewhat worthwhile to watch because despite everything there is much to criticize and some to admire.
The best parts of the movie are the cast (almost uniformly stellar but Anthony Mackie, Algee Smith, John Boyega and Jacob Latimore are standouts) and the costumes. There may not be many speaking roles for women in the film but there were a lot of women extras and the clothes they wear are FANTASTIC.
A missed opportunity from Bigelow.