Detroit Cert: 15 / 143 mins / Dir. Kathryn Bigelow / Trailer
Coming in five years after her last feature directorial, Kathryn Bigelow's Detroit is a snapshot of the Algiers Motel incident during the Detroit riot of 1967, in which three black teenagers were murdered during a police raid, responding to reports of gunfire at the scene.
Rather than try to encapsulate the broader scope of the unrest at that time, Bigelow begins by focusing on the smaller stories. People - authorities and civilians alike - trying their best to go about their lives and jobs while the city tears itself apart every night. Even in such a permanently fragile situation, Bigelow and writer Mark Boal find moments of peace and even wry humour, all the time gradually building tension until the characters are in or around the motel. After this point, the film we get is more scathing than most in living memory, but always with a calm righteousness at its side. Never mawkish, and amazingly delicate given the level of brutality on display*1.
The ensemble cast are all on fantastic form, with John Boyega's performance as a night-time security guard who gets caught up in the fracas only upstaged by the magnificent Will Poulter, as the police officer who's forgotten how the law works. Poulter is destined for huge things and I don't think we've seen his best, yet. It's a brave and committed actor who throws himself into playing a character as reprehensible as this one. But obviously he's only as good as his co-stars; everyone is worked hard under Kathryn's auspices, and the audience reaps the rewards.
On a more technical level, this is one of the very few films where hand-held cameras (and frequent crash-zooming) not only work, but actually help with the atmosphere. Good job this time, Barry Ackroyd, but don't let me catch you doing it again.
So after just under a couple of hours of outstanding film-making, the story moves to the resulting trial of the police officers present that night. And I can see how this sequence - not just a quick montage - is absolutely vital for narrative closure, but it effectively derails the pacing completely. At first I'd thought we were seeing the trial to avoid having the 'what happened next' caption-cards before the closing credits. But it's about twenty minutes of courtroom drama, then we get the captions anyway. The problem is that as heated and emotional as the case becomes, it's thoroughly anti-climactic after what we've just witnessed. It's no biggie, but it feels tacked on given that we get another small coda at the very end, one which is far more in keeping with the main thrust of the film.
Never an easy watch, although it's not meant to be, Detroit is finely crafted, compelling viewing. Twenty minutes or so shorter and it would have been perfect…
If you enjoyed Selma, you'll get a lot out of this.
It'll certainly ramp up the intensity if you do.
I think so.
In Bigelow's case, that's hard to tell as she's consistently great, but the cast can all wear this one proudly.
*1 I'm aware that it's a very right-on thing to say, but I like how angry a lot of America is with its own history, and isn't afraid to verbalise that. We could perhaps do with a little more righteous fury over this side of the pond, sometimes. [ BACK ]
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
For the assembled faithful in Screen 5 on Friday, F. Gary Gray's regaling of the turbulent history of L.A. rap-group N.W.A. is a journey which begins before the BBFC card even makes an appearance, in the form of the trailer for the imminent (not to mention inexplicable) Ride Along 2. Because no matter what highs and lows will be explored among the 147 minutes of Straight Outta Compton, the audience can rest easy knowing the real tragic ending involves one of modern hip-hop's godfathers standing in faux-umbrage next to a shrieking Kevin Hart…
Covering the period of 1986 to 1996 Gray certainly delivers, and superficially, his film looks and sounds utterly magnificent. Okay, the first act is a little like a series of GTA cut-scenes, and it becomes apparent at this early stage that the story is told by deftly jumping between pivotal points in the development of N.W.A. and its ancillary projects. Feeling like a sort of visual Greatest Hits package, those unfamiliar with the broad history of the group should get plenty out of the film, and casual fans of the genre will be able to feel their way through the familiarity. The longtime, hardcore fan-base however, may find the telling a little contrived since so many of the incidents rely on the point-of-view of the narrator, and much of what happens here is already quasi-legendary.
The central cast are marvellous, with O'Shea Jackson Jr being a particular standout as Ice Cube. Jason Mitchell's performance as Eazy-E is similarly great when it's allowed time to breathe properly (see above). And helming the supporting cast is Paul Giamatti in his lengthy role as Jerry Heller, in a firm step towards his goal of securing the Guinness World Record for 'the most cinematic appearances as a transparently manipulative music manager within a year'.
As competently as the film replays the buildup of the Gangsta-scene, it's not really until the timeline reaches the L.A. riots of 1992 that it really feels like it has something more to say. Although by that point, it's so locked into its just-the-facts-ma'am methodology of storytelling that the weight of those events almost seems skipped over. At two and a half hours, it's by no means a short film, but I'd have happily had another sixty minutes or so if it meant getting a more personal perspective. As it stands, the film's not really doing anything new in itself, but what it does achieve is done so well that it doesn't really matter.
Straight Outta Compton is an engaging, if slightly perfunctory music biopic. Although with a setting and soundtrack as awesome as this, most of its flaws*1 are entirely forgivable…
If the music's your thing, yes.
But that's going to be a deal-breaker.
Obviously.
Providing the extras are up-to-scratch, this will be a buy-er.
The performances and performers themselves are magnificent, yes.
It probably does, although I don't think it achieves everything I wanted it to.
Which isn't what director F. Gary Gray had in mind, admittedly.
Nope.
Not that I heard, but the film does open with a pseudo boot-shot.
Dr. Dre is portrayed by Corey Hawkins who made an appearance in Iron Man 3, a film which starred Jon 'Pre Vizsla' Favreau.
*1 Little things like the scene where Eazy-E is diagnosed with AIDS, and is told that his pregnant girlfriend will also have to be tested. Do we learn how he (most likely) contracted HIV? No, we don't. Do we find out if his partner and unborn child were carrying it? No, we don't. Y'know, it's only like his film, after all.
Additionally, there are probably more than a few paragraphs to be written on the depiction and treatment of the (very few) women in the film, but the factual basis of the story means that you can't really blame the film itself, even though you don't have to be happy with it either.
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
