MOVIE REVIEWS: ‘Detroit’ place to go for drama

Published 1:00 pm Saturday, August 12, 2017

“Detroit” (Crime/Drama/History: 2 hours, 23 minutes)

Starring: John Boyega, Anthony Mackie, Algee Smith, Will Poulter and Jacob Latimore

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Rated: R (Profanity, violence, thematic elements and brief nudity)

Movie Review: Kathryn Bigelow knows how to create an intense drama.

The Academy Award-winning director knows how to charm audiences with real-life oriented dramas. “Detroit” is another fine cinematic feature by her about civil rights during 1967.

Detroit, Mich., was the fifth largest city in the United States during the chaos of 1967 riots that saw looting, violence and racial tension at an all-time high. The city is under curfew and the Michigan National Guard patrols the streets.

Perceived sniper fire leads police and the National Guard to the Algiers Motel on July 25–26, 1967. There, three police officers torture several young African-American men and two Caucasian females with brutal interrogation tactics. Law-enforcement officers murder three young black suspects that night.

Bigelow and Mark Boal have collaborated on many screenplays. The notables are “The Hurt Locker” (2008) and “Zero Dark Thirty” (2012). They know just how to create intense, memorable dramas.

“Detroit” delivers on intensity. A tension-filled movie, it is riveting. Bigelow and Boal create nice relations that fuel this movie, and they do so without making the narrative a political one.

The good and bad are all deeply established characters. Boal’s script provides roles that unfold during a brief period, but the onscreen personas are rich enough that they appear relevantly genuine. The story is worth telling.

The acting and set designs are superb. The actors, mainly a young adult cast, deliver engaging performances. Their characters’ tribulations are grand, and the cast matches with skilled turns. Even more, the actors, based on actual people, are placed in well-done sets. Producers take the audience back nearly 50 years to turbulent times.

The movie does appear to linger at moments near its conclusion. After violently intense scenes, the movie tries to lighten the drama with some follow bits. A potent script should have let the intensity of what happened at the Algiers Motel stand on its own, and let audiences draw their own conclusions.

However, the cast is good. The set designs noteworthy, and the story is compelling. These elements with Bigelow and Boal’s talents make “Detroit” a must-see movie this year.

Grade: B+ (Historical events in the Motor City create a tension-driven account via realness.)

“The Dark Tower” (Action/Adventure: 1 hour, 35 minutes)

Starring: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey and Tom Taylor

Director: Nikolaj Arcel

Rated: PG-13 (Violence and thematic material)

Movie Review: An adaptation of Stephen King’s novels, plenty of material exists in this movie to like but more exists to dislike. Several writers pen a script that does not serve a well-known writer such as King well.

Think of this wayward feature as the “Wild West” meets “Stargate” (1994).

The last Gunslinger, Roland Deschain (Elba), battles Walter O’Dim, the Man in Black, a sorcerer. The two have battled for many years. Deschain must stop O’Dim from destroying the Dark Tower that prevents malevolent beings from outside the universe from entering.

Enter Jake Chambers (Taylor), a boy who has a unique soul that could bring down the tower. Deschain and Chambers work together to combat the O’Dim and his evil forces.

Famed director Ron Howard and Brian Grazer are producers. Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey are talented actors. Young actor Tom Taylor plays his part.

Stephen King’s novels provide a rich story. These matter little because of poorly written material under the direction Nikolaj Arcel (“A Royal Affair,” 2012).

The screenplay’s construction is based on the notion audiences have read the books that are the basis for this movie. This is tragic not because the movie is difficult to follow — reading the books is not necessary to follow this tale. It is tragic that characters lack meaningful existences enough to care about them. The broad story is, therefore, lackluster too and lacks an adequate focus.

Grade: D+ (Darkly written material.)

“Kidnap” (Thriller: 1 hour, 34 minutes)

Starring: Halle Berry, Sage Correa, Chris McGinn and Lew Temple

Director: Luis Prieto

Rated: R (Violence, moments of peril and strong language)

Movie Review: Single mother Karla Dyson (Berry) becomes the ultimate warrior after two kidnappers abduct her young son, Frankie (Correa). Minus her cellular phone, an impatient Dyson pursues the kidnappers in her car.

The high-speed chase is dangerous, causing multiple injuries along the way.

Berry starred in “The Call” (Director Brad Anderson, 2013). In that movie, Berry portrays an emergency call center operator who takes upon herself to rescue a young woman from her abductor. “Kidnap” is similar, except it is more believable here until a point.

“Kidnap” has some gaps, especially its ending. It leaves matters unfulfilled. It exists to thrill, sacrificing story elements for cheap moments. The intent is good, and Berry puts forth her best. Director Luis Prieto (“Pusher,” 2012) creates sensationalism. It entertains, even if it is not convincing.

Grade: C (A thrilling but conventional abduction.)

“Ghost Story” (Romance/Fantasy 1 hour, 32 minutes)

Starring: Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara and McColm Cephas Jr.

Director: David Lowery

Rated: R (Strong language and thematic elements)

Movie Review: “Ghost Story” is an artful film for those wanting something different. It is not for the typical audience. It is an abstract adventure, a visual exploration, for those connoisseurs of art-house films.

The story is a romance about the ghost of C (Affleck). He is a struggling musician living with his wife, M (Mara), in a suburban house. After an accident, C returns to the suburban house as a white-sheeted ghost. His expectation is to reunite with his grieving wife. C’s afterlife becomes an exploration of existence, love, place and time.

Again, this is for audiences with an acquired appreciation for film as art. It is a movie of few words. It resides more as visualizations to interpret emotions and communication between characters. In this sense, it is beautiful. It is mostly about a man’s love of his wife and his wanting his life with her back.

In this singular exploration of legacy, love, loss and the enormity of existence, a recently deceased, white-sheeted ghost returns to his suburban home to try to reconnect with his bereft wife.

“A Ghost Story” has a few boring, head-scratching moments, but those scenes are about something deeper in afterthought. They are not transparent immediately. Like life, C’s ghost does not become a clear characterization until his and his wife’s stories happen in their entirety.

A life is more than one place or moment. This is the nature of the movie. It is about what we are beyond any given time and place. A person is an ever-changing being becoming renewed continually. Moments change people; “A Ghost Story” shows how death changes a man more than living.

Grade: B (A transparent movie for thinkers and lovers of film as art.)