This is my first review. Not because I feel the movie was exceptionally good or bad, but because I feel like critics and reviewers appear to miss the main objective of this story.
Complaints about a lack of context are all over the place. The officers' motives & the real reason for the riots in general; those 2 aspects seem to iritate people greatly. Although I have to agree that these could have been worked out better, I don't feel like this was the movie's purpose. The story doesn't want to go too deep into the whole civil war that was going on in those times. It doesn't need to tell the story of how corrupt & unjust the force of law was back then. There are more recorded cases, movies, series & songs then we care to admit that factualize these terrible times.
It simply serves as a base for a much more personal, much deeper story concerning that specific night and that specific place.
This movie is not about Detroit, or the riots. It's about what happened to those people in that motel in those couple hours. It's an emotional rollercoaster and a look in the minds of the victims as they went through hell and back. And once you realise this you'll find this is an excellent motion picture, with good acting, solid writing and directing and the capability of leaving you feeling empty, powerless and even ashamed.
That, to me, is a great movie.
8/10
