Detroit (2017) review

Director Kathryn Bigelow has been in the film industry for quite a few decades now. While most of her early works didn’t do so well at the box-office, that didn’t stop them from attracting considerable acclaim from critics. This included, among others, 1987’s Near Dark and 1995’s Strange Days. Back then, one of her biggest collaborators was her ex-husband, fellow director James Cameron. Nowadays, her biggest collaborator is journalist turned screenwriter Mark Boal. They first worked together on 2009’s The Hurt Locker, which went on to win six Oscars at that year’s ceremony, including Best Original Screenplay for Boal, a Best Director win for Bigelow (making her the first female director to win the award), and most importantly, Best Picture. Three years later, they teamed up again for Zero Dark Thirty, which recounted the events of the U.S. government’s decade-long manhunt for Osama bin Laden. Like The Hurt Locker, it attracted rave reviews from critics. However, it also sparked much controversy for various reasons (e.g. its allegedly ‘pro-torture’ mentality) and it only won for Best Sound Editing at that year’s Oscar ceremony, an honor which it shared with Skyfall in a rare Oscars tie. This year, Bigelow and Boal are back with their third major collaboration together, Detroit. Like Zero Dark Thirty, it’s based on a true story; in this instance, the 12^th Street Riots, which occurred from July 23^rd to July 27^th, 1967 (half a century ago now) in Detroit, Michigan. In this film, Bigelow and Boal primarily focus in on one of the most infamous incidents that occurred during the rioting at a local spot known as the Algiers Motel, which resulted in the deaths of three African-American teenagers and the brutal beatings of the other men and women tied to the event by a collection of corrupt, racist cops. And thanks to brilliant performances and an unflinching look at what happened that night, Detroit is sure to be another major awards contender for this dynamic director-writer duo.  

On Sunday, July 23rd, 1967, members of the Detroit Police Department raid a party that’s going on inside an illegal speakeasy located on 12^th Street. As the police begin to round up those in the establishment, the angry responses from nearby onlookers soon turn violent, resulting in a full-blown riot that lasts several days. As looters begin to rob stores and buildings start burning all over the city, the National Guard is brought in to aid Detroit’s predominantly-white police force in their attempts to quell the rioters. However, this incident soon becomes even more serious on July 26^th. During a night of intense rioting, Larry Reed (Algee Smith), a member of the local band known as the Dramatics, and his friend Fred Temple (Jacob Latimore), decide to retreat to the Algiers Motel to avoid getting into any trouble with the cops. While there, one of the residents, Carl Cooper (Jacob Mitchell), jokingly pretends to fire a toy gun at the police officers and National Guardsmen situated outside the motel. However, this immediately causes the officers to react in retaliation to this supposed ‘sniper’. Once all the people in the building are rounded up, a trio of police officers, Krauss (Will Poulter), Demens (Jack Reynor), and Flynn (Ben O’Toole) take charge of the situation to try and figure out who the shooter was. However, their aggressively cruel handling of everything soon sends shockwaves throughout the entire city while simultaneously adding more fuel to the fire in these racially tense times.

While the film mainly focuses in on one incident from this whole ordeal, Bigelow and Boal fully immerse you into the chaos that came from the Detroit riots. Now admittedly though, because of this, the film doesn’t exactly delve fully into everything that led to the rioting, save for a brief animated intro that goes over the racial divide at the time. Still, thanks to Bigelow’s trademark shooting style and editing work, the film manages to establish an impressive sense of realism, something that’s become another trademark of Bigelow’s recent films. The sheer brutality that is exerted by the racist and corrupt officers involved in the Algiers incident is portrayed in a completely unwavering matter. Now, with that said, the film does take some creative liberties with the events of that night. Obviously, this is something that happens all the time with films that are based on true stories. But in this case, this is very much emphasized and it’s even acknowledged in the end credits. Because after all, not everything that happened that night at the Algiers has been completely documented. However, I do think that Bigelow and Boal did manage to get the point across in terms of the horrific nature of the atrocities that happened there on that summer night. Bottom line, this is by no means an easy watch. With that said, though, while the film does share a similarly hefty runtime with Bigelow and Boal’s last film, Zero Dark Thirty, this one flowed much better, by comparison, thanks to far superior pacing. In other words, there wasn’t any major part of this film that dragged. In fact, I’d say that this film does a lot of things better than Zero Dark Thirty, especially in terms of it giving us a more emotionally-involved story.

The film takes a similar route that Dunkirk took a few weeks back by not necessarily having a definitive main character. Instead, it focuses in on the various people who were involved in the situation, from the lone African-American officer, security guard Melvin Dismukes (John Boyega), who got caught up in the whole ordeal to the two young white women who were brutally assaulted alongside the African-American men at the Algiers, Juli Hysell (Hannah Murray) and Karen Malloy (Kaitlyn Dever). And overall, everyone in the cast does an excellent job in their respective roles. Boyega’s character, Dismukes, isn’t front and center like the trailers have implied but he does do an excellent job as one of the few ‘honest cops’ in this situation who finds himself put under intense scrutiny due to him being one of the few African-American officers in the city. The same applies to the other big names of the cast who mainly occupy minor supporting roles, including Anthony Mackie as one of the men harassed by the officers at the Algiers, Jacob Mitchell as Carl Cooper, and John Krasinski as the attorney for the corrupt cops when they get charged with murder. Ultimately, the two biggest characters in the film are newcomer Algee Smith as Larry Reed and Will Poulter as Krauss, the ‘leader’ of the corrupt cops. The parts of the storyline revolving around Larry and his friend Fred are what ultimately gives the film its most prevalent bits of emotional depth. On the flip side, you have Poulter doing a phenomenal job at being the most despicable character in the film; seriously, his character openly states that he blames the black community for all the rioting. It’s a lot like Michael Fassbender’s performance in 12 Years a Slave. He’s playing a completely vile character and yet is so good in the role that you can’t take your eyes off him either no matter how hard you try.

Overall, I feel that Detroit did a lot of things better than the last Bigelow/Boal feature, Zero Dark Thirty. Because while both films focused on a major event in U.S. history, Zero Dark Thirty suffered from being too devoid of emotional depth, resulting in quite a lot of dry proceedings. And while Detroit may not always succeed at showcasing the struggles that were going on in Detroit at that time, it’s a far more engrossing story by comparison. Because after all, at the risk of stepping too far into political territory here (something that I don’t like to do in my reviews), stuff like this is still happening today. While it’s been over half of century since these events transpired, we’re still seeing incidents like this where African-Americans are dealing with intense discrimination from the police. This makes Detroit such an important film in this current landscape because it doesn’t relent in showcasing one of the darkest moments in our country’s history. Heck, I even agree with the common consensus that’s being tossed around in that the whole sequence focusing on the Algiers Motel incident very much feels like something out of a horror film. Like I said before, this film can often be emotionally taxing to watch, especially during the finale that covers the corrupt cops’ subsequent murder trial (without giving the full details of it away for those unaware of what happened, the results aren’t pretty). However, thanks to strong performances from its ensemble cast and the equally strong direction from Kathryn Bigelow, Detroit is sure to be another big awards contender for Bigelow and writer Mark Boal. Admittedly, I wouldn’t call this film ‘perfect’ but it’s still very much a must-see.

Rating: 4.5/5

The Revenant (2015) review

Over the past few years, Leonardo DiCaprio has established himself as one of the best actors in the business, with plenty of great performances in films like ‘Inception’, ‘Django Unchained’, and his numerous collaborations with director Martin Scorsese in films like ‘The Departed’ and ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. However, all of that success has yet to earn him a win at the biggest award circuit in the industry; the Academy Awards. He’s been nominated four times in the past, once for Best Supporting Actor for 1993’s ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’ and three times for Best Actor for 2004’s ‘The Aviator’, 2006’s ‘Blood Diamond’, and ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ in 2013, but has come up empty-handed every time. Leo’s unlucky streak at the Oscars has practically become a running gag amongst film fans on the internet to the point where some have joked that it’s more likely that someone else is going to get an Oscar for playing Leo in a film than Leo actually winning one himself. But this year could finally end Leo’s Oscar drought with his latest performance in ‘The Revenant’, inspired by the real-life experiences of frontiersman Hugh Glass in 1823 in the Great Plains. It certainly has the team behind it, as the film is directed by Alejandro G. Inarritu, who’s fresh off of winning the Oscar for Best Director for his work on last year’s Best Picture winner ‘Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)’. And while I can’t really say that this is the best of this year’s Best Picture nominees, primarily due to the film occasionally straying far from the actual story of Hugh Glass, DiCaprio truly does shine in this intense but beautifully shot tale of survival.

In 1823, frontiersman Hugh Glass (DiCaprio) is part of a team of trappers led by Captain Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson) hunting for pelts in the unorganized U.S. territory that would eventually go on to become the Dakotas. When the party is suddenly attacked and forced to flee downriver from a group of Arikara Natives, Glass recommends that the party return to their outpost, Fort Kiowa, on foot, which they do at the expense of having to ditch the pelts that they’ve acquired. But while scouting ahead, Glass is suddenly attacked and viciously mauled by a grizzly bear. Near-death and after being transported on stretcher by the party for a little while, he is left behind along with fellow trappers John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) and Jim Bridger (Will Poulter) and Glass’ half-native son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck) when Fitzgerald suggests that Glass won’t survive his injuries. But that only results in Fitzgerald trying to kill Glass himself, which then leads to him killing Hawk and lying to Bridger in order to help him bury Glass alive by telling him that the natives are nearby and that they must leave him there. Left for dead, the severely wounded Glass now finds himself on his own in the harsh forest landscape as he must now embark on a perilous journey in order to get back to his party and, more importantly, enact his revenge on Fitzgerald for both leaving him to die and for killing his son.

‘The Revenant’ is easily one of the most beautifully-shot films of the year. From the gorgeous landscape shots to the long takes that were a key part of Inarritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki’s last film ‘Birdman’ to the fact that the two decided to almost entirely shoot the film with natural lighting, this is one great-looking film. And while it meant that the film ended up being quite an arduous shoot that also went quite a bit over-budget, at the end of the day it was most definitely worth it if solely for this outstanding cinematography. This also results in a film that can obviously be very brutal at times in terms of its action, from the infamous scene where Glass is attacked by the bear to the climactic fight at the end which I won’t spoil the details of for anyone who hasn’t seen the film yet. These sequences are well-shot and put you right in the center of the action. Admittedly, though, for as well-shot as the film is, it does lack a bit in terms of emotional depth. Now don’t get me wrong, the film’s themes of survival are very prevalent throughout, which is most definitely admirable. But at the same time, the whole thing about Glass seeking revenge on Fitzgerald isn’t as strong, namely in regards to him avenging the death of his son at Fitzgerald’s hands. Spoiler Alert, the whole thing with the son is purely fictional. From what we know, Hugh Glass didn’t have a son or a wife, he was just pissed at Fitzgerald and Bridger for leaving him to die. So as a result, that part of the story feels pretty darn hollow because of the fact that it was 100% fabricated.

Leonardo DiCaprio has gone on record saying that this was ‘the hardest performance of his career’ and considering what happens in this film, I don’t blame him. After all, in this film his character goes through all sorts of hell and considering how rough the shoot must have been at times, the same could be said for what DiCaprio had to do while in the role. At one point he even had to eat raw bison meat while being a vegetarian in real life. This performance is no easy task and to put it simply, DiCaprio does endure to deliver an excellent performance as you’d expect from him nowadays. Equally excellent here is Tom Hardy in the role of Fitzgerald, who in a lot of ways is actually a much more layered character than one may think. While he may serve the role as this film’s antagonist given the fact that he’s the one who orchestrated Glass’ abandonment and was responsible for killing his fictional son, you actually do get where he’s coming from, as strange as that may sound. He clearly realized that the party wasn’t going to get very far carrying the critically wounded Glass through this harsh environment with a bunch of natives on their tail. So he did what he felt was the right thing to do; leave him on the grounds that he would probably soon succumb to his injuries in order to prevent the possibility of him and Bridger being killed by the pursuing natives. Because of this, Fitzgerald is more than just a straight-forward baddie and Tom Hardy handles this complex character perfectly. 

I’ll admit I didn’t actually read into the ‘true story’ behind this film until after seeing it and quite frankly, it’s a little disappointing that the film didn’t go all the way with it. Instead, the film adds in a fabricated story involving Glass and his fictional son which doesn’t really elicit as much emotional drama as it wants to. I for one feel that it would’ve be far more interesting for the film to be more focused on the true aspects of the story, especially in regards to how this conflict between Glass and Fitzgerald ultimately turned out. It’s different in the film and as cool as the conclusion of that conflict is between the two, I think the actual conclusion would’ve been much more thought-provoking, as it would’ve strengthened the moral predicament of Fitzgerald having to do what he did primarily due to the hostile environment that they were in while also showing that Glass never really did enact his revenge on Fitzgerald for leaving him to die. But on the bright side, ‘The Revenant’ does benefit from some amazing cinematography, solid direction from Inarritu, and terrific performances from its two leads, DiCaprio and Hardy. So in short, ‘The Revenant’ isn’t really my favorite of this year’s Best Picture nominees, mainly due to its issues in terms of its story. But at the very least, the film is still one of the best-looking films of the year so it does definitely deserve some Oscar attention from a technical standpoint. And who knows… this could finally be the film that breaks Leo’s cold streak at the Oscars. Seems like this year is the best opportunity for him to finally win that coveted golden man.

Rating: 4/5