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Detroit

Detroit

2017
Drama, Suspense/Thriller
2h 23m
A police raid in Detroit in 1967 results in one of the largest and most intense riots in United States history, leading to the federalization of the Michigan National Guard and the involvement of two Airborne Divisons of the United States Army.
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Detroit

2017
Drama, Suspense/Thriller
2h 23m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 58.67% from 550 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(550)
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Rated 26 Jan 2018
92
70th
I really liked this one. I still think Bigelow is a pretty effective director who has a good eye for detail and it shows here. It's supposedly dramatized, but it's still quite shocking and pretty rough to watch. Will Poulter is magnetic in this and a good amount of the supporting cast is excellent too. It is long but I didn't mind the runtime. Good movie.
Rated 20 Dec 2018
100
94th
The Detroit riots of 1967 and the incident at The Algiers Motel and the tragic events are the subject of this movie Well written directed and superb performances from the entire cast and it felt true to the era
Rated 04 Oct 2017
80
86th
The first act provides a very strong introduction that invokes the time and place and sets up the true incident. In the gripping second act Will Poulter, in a great performance, is being a hell of a meanie. The smile he sends one of the girls was very chilling. Unfortunately, the third act, which doesn't really go anywhere, is sub-par. But while she is ultimately let down somewhat by the script, Bigelow's great direction (and Poulter's memorable psycho) was what lingered in my mind.
Rated 20 Aug 2017
75
89th
Bigelow has made a film that needed to be made about an event that actually happened and in my book redeems herself for zero dark thirty.
Rated 03 Aug 2017
42
16th
Crash for a new era. In a great first-15 minutes, it's clear Bigelow and Boal want to make The American Battle of Algiers - but when it gets to the Algiers Motel, it shifts into two overlong hours of torture porn (with all the genre's cartoonish characterizations and unnecessary voyeurism) before dry heaving into pedantic courtroom scenes. It's vile exhibitionism with no moral. I have no doubt this film will pick up awards and Oscar rumors. Because it's tackling racism in America, right? Right?
Rated 22 Aug 2017
64
35th
Not gonna say I wasn't on the edge of my seat during the back half of this. But it's very much a movie about race for white people. Not in a way as bad as Crash but there's not a lot of nuance here.
Rated 29 Aug 2017
81
82nd
So dark and depressing. But it is moving and important to see. A good perspective on problems of racism.
Rated 01 Sep 2017
87
86th
If you call this torture porn, my guess is you are white and found another way not to bother. This movie - my sophisticated friend - is made for you.
Rated 12 Aug 2017
60
69th
If the words "Algiers Motel" don't mean anything to you, then this is required viewing. I went in thinking I was going to see a drama about the riots, but instead I saw a true-life horror thriller. I did some post-watch reading and it seems this is a pretty accurate account of the events, which is pretty shocking.
Rated 16 Nov 2017
67
52nd
The main story bit is well acted, unnervingly tense and incredibly terrifying. You have to hand it to Kathryn Bigelow, the things she does well, she does really well. On the other hand, her trademark weaknesses are also present. The movie starts of too slow and unfocused and doesn't quite know when to end. But it's an interesting, dramatic period piece none the less.
Rated 04 Aug 2017
45
40th
Suffers primarily from being a much too broad story to tell in feature length format. Also suffers from a huge decrease in pacing and energy once to actual hotel incident begins. Also suffers from being oddly miscast, specifically the use of Will Poulter as a menacing police officer brutalizing kids when Poulter looks like's 14 and all these "kids" look like his dad. Also suffers from John Krasinski because fuck John Krasinski.
Rated 10 Sep 2017
20
12th
Detroit is a hard, painful movie to watch. It pulls no punches--literally or metaphorically. And the film's conclusion only amplifies the sense of horror and despair it devastatingly depicts. I think Detroit is an serious film about an issue that still divides our country. But it is probably the hardest two hours and 23 minutes I've spent in a theater recently.
Rated 05 Aug 2017
30
5th
How can a movie as confusing as this be considered Oscar material. This is nothing like Bigelow's previous superb movies with its jumbled story and outright fiction presented as "truth". The screenwriter admits to "a self-imposed rule to never stray from what I understood to be the underlying truth of a scene or an event". What he termed poetic license, is nothing less than a license to lie. He also updated the dialogue, to what, modern terminology or assumed modern attitudes? Probably bot
Rated 15 Feb 2018
75
74th
breakout role for will poulter
Rated 09 Aug 2017
88
78th
This is Kathryn Bigelow's best movie, even if it repeats her standard detached and technical docudrama approach to covering an actual event. Here she's helped by a strong cast and message on police brutality, racism, and sexism that's timely. I saw this film days after U.S. President Trump encouraged officers to "rough up" protestors at one of his rallies. This '67 Detroit police force is the idea of the "America" his supporters want to return to when they say "Make America Great Again".
Rated 09 Dec 2017
75
84th
Political undertones in "Detroit" are well-pronounced, but it's never polemical. Boal and Bigelow are wise to focus on making a gritty historical thriller, veering close to horror for a certain stretch of time - which is fitting. The flat, uninteresting characters are the film's main weakness, and the reason why it barely comes to life until the action starts. Solid dialogue, tight directing and fine performances are what carries the film in spite of the nondescript characters.
Rated 25 Oct 2017
65
61st
Timeless story about the consequences of racism on society - from violent cops to cold judges. Bigelow/Boal's look is often cathartic and extretemly detailed when the bigger picture is registered - the racial tensions emerging and ultimately boiling the streets - but maybe too excessive and filled with an obnoxious and uneven frontality - why torture them again (in the hotel and on court) instead of reflecting about this brutality? - towards reality. Powerful document, irregular film.
Rated 14 Dec 2017
70
84th
And you thought OCP was bad...
Rated 03 Apr 2018
50
25th
Bigelow is a fairly dull, straightforward, safe director and is SO not what this movie needed. You need someone with a perspective and someone willing to get into the nasty details, not remain largely detached. I love seeing Poulter in this sort of role, but it never became emotionally affecting for me, as much as the film tried. I feel like I've seen this type of film done much better before, and I just found this movie to be extremely pretentious, long and not very interesting, overall.
Rated 30 Dec 2017
78
72nd
Set against the backdrop of an overlooked incident in the middle of a historically intense race riot, DETROIT is an ambitious attempt to place a sprawling, complex event in an intimate human context. It's another great example of Bigelow and Boal's journalistic, you-are-there approach to filmmaking, even if its reach exceeds its grasp at times. DETROIT's visceral punch peaks in its tense middle section, but the extended aftermath leaves more troublesome questions for viewers to ponder.
Rated 29 Jul 2019
20
7th
What a crock
Rated 13 Dec 2017
70
50th
This made me soooo fucking angry!
Rated 05 Dec 2017
2
59th
More democrat crocodile tears for blacks: the movie
Rated 26 Feb 2018
70
40th
Alternative title 'Hard to Watch'
Rated 25 Apr 2018
6
44th
Long but quite gripping, Bigelow racks up the tension in places and the events are shocking.
Rated 19 Jul 2018
1
20th
ACAB and all but, It's 'worthiness' and that pseudo-documentary thing these sort of movies do now really grated.
Rated 13 Feb 2018
75
42nd
Very important to have a reminder of events like this in recent history and also acknowledge that similar things happen every day, albeit on a smaller scale. However, as a movie, for the first half I was wondering who I should be paying attention to. The character development was severely lacking. And the ending didn't get much better.
Rated 17 Aug 2017
3
25th
I won't go as far as saying this is Crash for our times because I think Bigelow is a lot more talented than Haggis. I just don't think we need a huge section of the movie with white people torturing black people to know that police officers are corrupt, vile, scumbags. Same problem I have with say, Tarantino's Django, I have with this film, it feels like white directors honing in a bit much on violence commited against black bodies.
Rated 01 Dec 2017
70
41st
Enjoyable with a serious pacing issue. The bulk of it in the house wore really thin. I get it, show the horrors of what transpired that night, make it gritty with documentary-style intimacy, don't let the camera be static, make sure the blood and strife is clear; the problem was, it lost me a little, like it went on too long. I enjoyed the beginning, thought it was really well done, and the court stuff later was ok. I'm a little disappointed and think this could have been a more important film.
Rated 20 Jun 2018
70
29th
A harrowing portrayal of racism and abuse of power, that works better as a history lesson with very clear ties to current events than it does as a movie. It has a great cast and very tense sequences, but overall it is oddly structured and too long.
Rated 03 Aug 2017
79
73rd
Video review: https://youtu.be/39yZZz-5t64
Rated 07 Jul 2018
65
45th
I would have rather had a more wider-view of what happened in the riots, than predominantly focusing on one act of brutality.
Rated 12 May 2018
80
75th
Intense, sobering, and still relevant. Does a great job capturing the chaos and confusion that surrounds such a horrific tragedy.
Rated 21 Dec 2017
50
22nd
boal, tıpkı megan allison gibi, ana akım gazetelerin güya ilerlemeci, prestijli uyduruk yazarlarını andırıyor her işiyle. bigelow ise siyasete aynı yerden bakmıyor olduğun halde dikkat kesildiğin bir *anlatıcı* gibi. nihayetinde filmin gerçekleri resmetme haliyle ulaşmaya çalıştığı bir yer var -her ne kadar otel sekansına kadar film inanılmaz dağınık olup istediği şeyi başaramasa da- ama tam toparlanıyor gibi olduğunca pornoya dönüyor.
Rated 10 May 2018
40
39th
A guileless telling of an important story.
Rated 12 May 2018
65
30th
Pffff, really the movie wasn't that good. I mean, probably a good re-enactment, but not very good acting or interesting story.. A whole lot of stupid people (characters) envolved ...
Rated 04 Apr 2021
6
34th
Takes forever to get going and doesn't amount to much more than a formal and narrow dramatization of the Algiers Motel incident. The film's main issue is that it gets its point across rather quickly, while devoid of that extra dimension that would've lifted it above mere re-enactment of said event. Watching this today, however, does lend the film greater emotional resonance, considering hardly anything has changed regarding America's deeply troubling history with racism and discrimination.
Rated 31 May 2018
79
51st
79.00
Rated 20 Aug 2018
70
58th
You know a film like this is good when it's so frustrating to watch. It does lose me a little because it focuses too much on the middle act (literally and figuratively, and done quite well, might I add), when the aftermath is far more thought-provoking and has a lot more relevant commentary to now. The performances were great but I would have liked to have seen more of the complexities that would have featured a little more in the third act.
Rated 03 Dec 2018
49
36th
A sad story told in a very disjointed and jumpy way. I did not appreciate the film.
Rated 23 Aug 2019
50
37th
Another racism is bad movie. It is at least covering the role of police taking part in continued oppression, so it has that going for it.
Rated 27 Sep 2019
77
63rd
This film takes a long time to get going but it is worth the wait. The performances are good here and there are some interesting characters. Overall I would recommend this film.
Rated 13 Sep 2020
6
61st
Detroit is a interesting perspective on a very relevant topic in the real world right now. It's well produced, lead with a loaded cast, and pretty focused. Unfortunately, maybe too focused, as isolating this incident itself for this movie's runtime might have been too much. It is a bit of a slow burn, with a lot of build up. This puts a lot on the characters and depending on the viewer, this could be a make or break. For me, this does enough to warrant its watch.
Rated 15 Nov 2020
78
69th
Violence of this kind is and frankly should be shocking. However I'm not sure if this film achieves much more than saying "look how awful this was". The set up is rushed, the riots aren't really contextualised, and then it's just the all too familiar tale of police brutality followed by systemic shrug and cover up. I felt awful by the time it was finished, but I'm not sure I learned anything. Excellent acting performances though, it does have that.
Rated 14 Feb 2021
70
42nd
Where I think this film fails is in the final act. I don't think Bigelow has a clear idea where to go. We see the investigation and the trial. We see the effect the events had on key people. But given the jittery, hand-held style and the tendency to try to make it seem like events are unfolding naturally, there's no clear narrative or direction.
Rated 08 Apr 2021
76
69th
It's always a tough ask when the subject is so grim and depressingly re-occurring. Especially when it's a real story but without all the facts, leading to a story that sort of stops, then goes to trial, then wraps up. Credit to the performers, I just feel it leant on "isn't police brutality bad" without going much further.

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