Hudlin Entertainment Forum

Show Bizness => Latest Flicks => Topic started by: Hypestyle on August 01, 2017, 05:17:11 pm

Title: "Detroit" film
Post by: Hypestyle on August 01, 2017, 05:17:11 pm
The "Detroit" movie is pretty brutal, challenging to watch from start to finish; even with all of my foreknowledge about the various events of the rebellion, it's still very striking -- and rather infuriating-- to see this incident dramatized for essentially the first time some 50 years after the fact.  I watched it with my mom and her memories were still there of the incidents and  that era. And of course, all of the issues presented are still here and still having negative impact on city residents.

all the actors gave good performances- very notable is Will Poulter as Krauss (a pastiche of the real cop(s) who were on trial for murder)-- hard for me to believe this guy played the nerdy son in that We're the Millers film.
Another is John Boyega as security guard Melvin.  His character is presented with any number of opportunities to "go off", but (I don't think this is much of a spoiler) he doesn't.  Instead he just kind of semi-silently deals with it, possibly seeing that he's outnumbered and outgunned.  [There's also a vague connection to Star Wars' Finn in that both characters are reluctantly drawn into a big-deal conflict, but their attempts at "heroism" fall way short].  Jason Mitchell is memorable as Carl, who manages to become the inadvertent catalyst for the night of horror that awaits the folks at the Algiers.  Algee Smith plays Larry, an early member of the Dramatics whose life gets turned completely around by that night.
Anthony Mackie's role is a little smaller than you might assume, but he's solid as an ex-paratrooper who is among the victims of the interrogations.

Large parts of the film are still sickening to watch.  It's a very claustrophobic film once it gets to the hotel setting.  I'd have to classify it as a horror film as well as a "historical drama".

Not enough attention was paid to the "lead-up" to the riots, as well as the trial and the political aftermath in the city.  But of course, this was still 2.5 hours, and not everything could be said.

I'd give it an A- overall.  Hopefully when awards season comes around, this movie will get some acknowledgments for the director, actors, cinematography, and screenwriter.
Title: Re: "Detroit" film
Post by: Mastrmynd on August 02, 2017, 11:43:40 am
I was waiting for your take on this movie.
I thought about you as soon as I saw the commercial.
I'll be honest, I'd never heard anything about this event. I had to google it to gain some insight.
Title: Re: "Detroit" film
Post by: Battle on August 07, 2017, 07:36:48 am
Didn't know exactly what happened in Detroit, Michigan 1967 either, however, I do remember The Funk Brothers mentioning this incident during their late night jam sessions at MoTown records in 'Standing In The Shadows Of MoTown'.

This country is so 'effed up' and has a long way to go to achieve "...a more perfect Union."

The clips & footage  I've seen of this movie looks so good.
Title: Re: "Detroit" film
Post by: Emperorjones on August 07, 2017, 08:25:31 am
Hype,

I agree with a lot of how you felt about the film. I remember early on thinking that I wish we had seen more of the reason why people were rebelling instead of the detailed scenes of blacks looting and running wild. To be fair, there was text describing the  harsh conditions in Detroit, but I don't think they matched the images of blacks being angry and acting violently. I wish more images had been shown to show why many black folks in Detroit were compelled to act that way.

I also felt the insertion of the few good cop characters in the movie felt forced to me
Spoiler (click to reveal)
, particularly the police chief who calls Krauss a 'racist' and the cop who helps Larry and saves his life. When he mutters something like who could do something like this, I think that was a sop to the idea that this is an individual issue among a few bad apples and not a larger systemic issue.
The film unevenly tried to have it both ways, criticizing at turns systemic forces and then at others, individual cops (who were all made extra sweaty to highlight how unhinged they were, which to me is that trick of making racism seem so extreme, like only people in the Klan are racists, that whites can more easily say since I'm not extreme therefore I'm not racist and I have no complicity in maintaining or benefiting from racial inequality so therefore I have no responsibility in ending it).
Title: Re: "Detroit" film
Post by: Emperorjones on August 07, 2017, 02:53:26 pm
Reelblack from You Tube reviews/critiques the film.

! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuCfaEMCaLE#)
Title: Re: "Detroit" film
Post by: Tanksleyd on August 16, 2017, 07:32:06 am
This most likely is a great movie with good cinematography and direction
But as I watched it I could not see the pretty women
I could only see one thing
INTENSITY