Detroit
This was a mixed bag of a film. It starts out extraordinarily slow. It cuts between various characters experiencing a riot in Detroit in 1967 – until they all come together and all hell breaks loose, the film shifting into what feels like a horror film.
This tone shift is sudden and is supposed to make the audience feel incredibly uncomfortable – a feat which the film accomplishes seamlessly. I tend to love it when films shift genres suddenly (Parasite, Sorry to Bother You) and I’ll be adding this one to the list.
The film features many likable characters, and a few completely detestable ones (the police officers). It has truly been a long time since I wanted to watch the downfall of a villain so badly. That’s a sign something was done right.
Moreso than any of Bigelow’s previous films, Detroit demands that the acting be top-notch. If any performance doesn’t sell the abject horror going on, it would take the bite out of the action and the film would lose its meaning completely. Luckily, the film avoids this problem and every actor delivers what they need to.
This film is based on a true story. Melvin Dismukes, one of the survivors of the events depicted, described the film as “99.5 percent accurate” which for a Hollywood film is insane. That basically makes this a documentary. Knowing how accurate the film is makes it so much scarier in hindsight. Bigelow does this very well. The film is even more poignant today than it was when it was released in 2017. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more disgusted by the actions of the police than after watching this.
Bigelow Rankings:
There you have it, folks. My rankings of all ten of Katheryn Bigelow’s feature films.
- Point Break
- Strange Days
- Blue Steel
- Zero Dark Thirty
- Detroit
- The Hurt Locker
- Near Dark
- K-19: The Widowmaker
- The Loveless
- The Weight of Water
I’ll talk about this more next week in my Katheryn Bigelow retrospective (and award show) but I really enjoyed watching her films. She’s batting .8 – which would blow even Babe Ruth out of the water.
Come see my thoughts on all ten of her films next week!
