'Detroit' Review

Detroit is set amidst the Detroit riots of 1967. Racial tensions are high as the Detroit Police Department, Michigan State Police, and Michigan National Guard patrol the streets for crowd control and keeping the peace. Shots are heard from the Algiers Motel, so the police and guardsman search the premises for a weapon. When they are unable to find a gun, an intense police investigation unravels. The predominantly African American males residing in the hotel are then maliciously interrogated until a confession is retrieved. Those are the terrifying events depicted in Detroit.

Detroit is the latest project from the Academy Award winning director Kathryn Bigelow and her frequent collaborative screenwriter Mark Boal. The two previously worked together on both The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, each earning a few Oscar nominations and even a win for those films in their respective categories (Both received two Oscars for Hurt Locker in the categories of Best Picture and Best Director/Best Original Screenplay). Deviating from her trajectory of war films, Bigelow thrusts audiences straight into the chaotic atmosphere of the '67 Detroit riots. 

Bigelow re-teams with Barry Ackroyd, her cinematographer from The Hurt Locker, and utilizes a handheld camera to ensure viewers feel submersed in these appalling events. Large portions of Detroit are shot in a documentary style, but the camera is maneuvered differently as it gets up-close, and personal to these actors so the viewer can distinguish beads of sweat and discern heavy breathing. This technique turns out to be incredibly effective, because audiences will be nauseated by every cruel kill and the brutal beatings will rattle viewers throughout this uncomfortable watch.

Detroit's a rude awakening to the hidden horrors of America's racist past of police brutality that is unfortunately still relevant today in some instances. Thankfully, Mark Boal knew better than to victimize all cops or dignify those in open rebellion. It's shown that some rioters were woefully ignorant as they ransacked businesses owned by blacks, and even the most virtuous enforcers fouled up by not reporting heinous acts because they didn't want to deal with all the red tape. Boal's screenplay is a dramatization of the events, but the actions occurring onscreen can't help feeling eerily realistic (with the production and costume design only adding further authenticity).

However, it's the performances on display that bring it home. John Boyega's security officer Dismukes will probably irk some viewers for his lacking support, but there's nothing he could have done in that situation when you stop and think about it. Boyega's subtle performance communicates an inner sense of unease that's drastically different from his costar's intense emotional outpours, but still impressive. Jacob Latimore, Algee Smith, Anthony Mackie, Jason Mitchell, and Payton Alex Smith all accentuate fundamental fear in this startling situation and manage to extract some unexpectedly extraordinary range. Algee Smith, in particular, flexes his acting chops quite a bit over the course of the two-and-a-half hour runtime. 

Will Poulter, on the other hand, extrapolates a refined hatred as the racist cop Krauss. Viewers will find themselves so wrapped in Poulter's despicable behavior that they'll even hate his lawyer for sticking his neck out for the guy. Guess who the lawyer's played by? John Krasinski. Never in my life did I think I could possibly direct malintent towards Jim from The Office, but it happened. I would not be surprised in the slightest to see Poulter be a major contender for Best Supporting Actor this awards season. At his side, Jack Reynor and Ben O'Toole put in some solid work as accompanying policeman, but neither are anywhere near the contemptible heights Poulter reaches. 

Despite an off-kilter animated opening that took me off guard and a crawling conclusion, Detroit's a film that will definitely be joining the awards conversation this year. I will warn those intent on seeing Detroit that it's a harrowing watch, but a necessary one nonetheless. Detroit is about an event fifty years ago, but its relevance to ongoing issues today underscores this is a difficult discussion that the human race still needs to have.

Film Assessment: A-

'Collateral Beauty' Review

In Collateral Beauty successful advertising executive Howard suffers the devastating loss of his six year old daughter and Howard becomes out of touch with reality as he begins writing letters to Death, Time, and Love. Collateral Beauty's trailers lead you to believe that Howard is then visited by the physical embodiments of Death, Time, and Love but what actually takes place is quite different. I'm not sure if this will be considered a spoiler or not since this is revealed within twenty minutes and the setup of the film.

**Beginning of "spoilers"** 

If you're still reading then I assume you've either seen the movie already or simply don't care so without further ado, Howard's friends and co-workers decide they need to take action to snap Howard back to reality because they are at risk of losing their jobs and Howard is broken over the loss of his daughter. They then hire a private investigator who discovers a few of Howard's letters to Death, Time, and Love and the three friends hire three actors to pretend to be the physical manifestations of Death, Time, and Love so they can film him talking to them, digitally remove the actors, and show it to the executive board in hopes of getting Howard booted from his position for being mentally incapacitated. Yes, the plot of the movie is that stupid and these "friends" are total jerks but believe or not that's not even the actual plot twist of the movie. 

**End of "spoilers"**

I won't spoil the twist but it makes literally no sense and contradicts earlier events of the film. I went into Collateral Beauty expecting some sort of amalgamation of A Christmas Carol and Inside Out where a man is guided by physical representations of Death, Time, and Love but instead got something completely different and it was for the worse with this film's biggest problem being its structure and the script written by Allan Loeb.

Instead of being centered around a grieving Will Smith, the film spreads its focus among the entire ensemble attempting to give each character a substantial character arc when the supporting characters didn't really need one. Loeb also leaves out anything regarding Howard's daughter Olivia to avoid ruining a twist that didn't really HAVE to be the film's big twist and the result is that it's hard to truly sympathize with Howard's situation.

While there are well intentioned ideas and messages included in Collateral Beauty, the screenplay's just a mess from beginning to end. Collateral Beauty has gotten some pitiful reviews and I've seen some say it's one of the worst films of 2016 but I didn't think it was quite that bad. The film's well-shot and looks nice throughout thanks to Maryse Alberti and even though director David Frankel allowed this mess to happen, he does manage to draw out some sufficient performances from the all-star ensemble.

These accomplished actors bring forth some decent turns but don't expect awards worthy work or career best performances. Will Smith showcases a lot of emotional range but not enough time is spent around Howard to make you truly care about anything he's going through and Smith seems just out of touch as his character (take from that what you will). Edward Norton, Michael Peña, Kate Winslet are Howard's friends and co-workers Whit, Claire, and Simon, Naomie Harris plays grief support group leader Madeleine, and Keira Knightley, Jacob Latimore, and Helen Mirren bring forth the manifestations of Love, Time, and Death respectively. 

All these accomplished actors fail to make their characters resonate, the performances aren't bad but everything's played at surface level and that's not really what should be drawn from actors of this caliber. Everything put into Collateral Beauty is well-intentioned, but its idiotic story is a total waste of A-list talent that make it feel like a sappy Lifetime movie.

Film Assessment: D