Shortly after midnight on June 25, 1967, shots were heard outside of the Algiers Motel in Detroit, Michigan. A group of state and local policemen and National Guardsmen entered the motel looking for an alleged sniper. The night ended with three black teenagers dead and nine others brutally beaten. The horrific incident, which took place during the Detroit riot, is the focus of Kathryn Bigelow’s latest examination of American history. An excellent piece of powerful, dramatic filmmaking, Detroit is one of the most harrowing films you’ll see this year with a wealth of charged performances. But Bigelow’s film, written by Mark Boal (Zero Dark Thirty, The Hurt Locker), suffers from too broad a title – this movie should more accurately be titled The Algiers Motel – and thus too broad a scope.
Sometimes, a film can effortlessly open at number one at the box office while still being a pretty huge disaster. This is the case with ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings,’ which rode a wave of terrible reviews and an even more terrible marketing campaign to a hugely disappointing start. With a lot of big movies opening the next two weeks, the new Biblical epic won’t even find time to grow some legs. Chances are strong that it is dead on arrival.