Detroit

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Kathryn Bigelow directs. Barry Ackroyd behind the camera. James Newton Howard scores. William Goldenberg cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Earned back only 69% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
• 2Released 9 years ago.
• 3209+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
• 4Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, shot by Barry Ackroyd. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by James Newton Howard. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor William Goldenberg shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7John Boyega and Will Poulter and Anthony Mackie carry the top of the cast.
• 8Marketing tagline: "It's time we knew.".
• 9IMDB entry: tt5390504 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 10Classified under 10 themes, including "fire", "police brutality", "church choir", "based on true story".

The technical file

Cinematography

Barry Ackroyd

Original score

James Newton Howard

Editing

William Goldenberg

Production design

Jeremy Hindle

Costume design

Francine Jamison-Tanchuck

Makeup / hair

Camille Friend

VFX supervisor

Randy Goux

Sound

Paul N.J. Ottosson

Stunt coordinator

Ele Bardha

Runtime

143 min · 2h 23m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$34,000,000

Box office

$23,400,000

Return

69% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

Detroit (2017) ↗

Also by

Kathryn Bigelow

• 
  Homicide: Life on the Street

  1993 · ★ 8.1
• 
  The Set-Up

  1978 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Last Days

  2014 · ★ 7.6
• 
  Point Break

  1991 · ★ 7.2
• 
  The Hurt Locker

  2008 · ★ 7.2
• 
  Karen Sisco

  2003 · ★ 7.1

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Terrorized by the Detroit P.D.

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  Singing to an empty room

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  Detroit 1967: The raid that started it all

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  DETROIT Trailer German Deutsch (2017)

  Trailer
• 

  ▶
  Official Trailer 2

  Trailer · Official
• 

  ▶
  Official Trailer

  Trailer · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• r96sk2020-10-21
  ★ 6/10

  An important story to tell no doubt, but as a film it's a disappointment in my opinion. Of course I cared for the characters from the first second due to the obvious subject matter, but that's as far as I ever got. It's a long 143 minutes, with one scene in particularly lasting an age without really doing much; except the final act of it. A film needs to do more, if this was a documentary - even a docudrama - then fair enough but it isn't. It also wastes a pretty top notch cast. John Boyega is in this, portraying Melvin Dismukes. The amount of times he's just there standing around doing nothing is frustrating, he has a few moments where he gets to act and you can see his phenomenal talent - especially one time where you see the effect of events on Melvin - but that's about it. A waste. Similar can be said for Anthony Mackie, star of one of my favourite films in <em>'The Adjustment Bureau'</em>. He plays such a minor role, you cast someone like Mackie you gotta use him more surely? Will Poulter gets most of the screen time. He's good I guess, not sure we need to see quite as much of him as we do - given his character is an open/shut case. Elsewhere, you have other familiar faces like Tyler James Williams (shoutout Noah) and John Krasinski. I don't intend to crap on this film. It's clearly well made, has great intentions and relays a notable story. I'm just disappointed with the end product, I judge films as films and <em>'Detroit'</em> is rather underwhelming.

  Read full review ↓
• CinemaSerf2024-01-31
  ★ 7/10

  Based on a true story, and on the facts - insofar as they will ever actually be known - this is a gritty and quite depressing depiction from Kathryn Bigelow of one traumatic night in the city. It was during a night of rioting that a squad of police officers respond to reports of gunshots at a city hotel. Upon entering they discover a group of black youths, a couple of white girls - and what follows is a potent mix of racial hatred, bigotry and violence as the boys in blue leave what integrity they might have had at the door and leave again with three dead bodies and nine others savagely beaten to show for their policing efforts. Will Poulter sheds his nice but dim "Harry Potter" image and is really effective as the lead officer bent off exacting his own stye of justice, Ben O'Flynn also works well as his complicit sidekick and there are strong performances from Anthony Mackie, Algee Smith and from John Boyega as the state policeman trying to do his best to tread the very perilous line between law enforcer and African American. It shies not from presenting us with a ghastly human face for the spontaneous and plausible attitudes of superiority and disdain held by the polices and depicts with some menace how their captives are terrified and humiliated by the people they ought to heave been able to trust - and that extends to the "slutty" two white girls too. It's really one ensemble effort, the direction is taut and at time the whole thing just has a relentlessness that does make you wonder (I am not an American) how the hell this could ever have happened in a land that purported to be civilised and free (in 1967). Not an easy watch, but the events in Detroit 50-odd years ago still resonate with issues of policing and racism just a potently now, as when this is set.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Annapurna Pictures

  US

• PA

  Page 1

  US

• HA

  Harpers Ferry

Key crew

• ProducerKathryn Bigelow
• ProducerMark Boal
• ProducerMatthew Budman
• ProducerMegan Ellison
• Executive ProducerGreg Shapiro
• EditorWilliam Goldenberg
• EditorHarry Yoon
• CastingRichard Hicks
• CastingVictoria Thomas
• Production DesignJeremy Hindle
• Supervising Art DirectorGreg Berry
• Art DirectionJim Wallis
• Set DecorationKathy Lucas
• Costume DesignFrancine Jamison-Tanchuck
• Hair Department HeadCamille Friend
• Makeup Department HeadWhitney James
• Makeup ArtistNavya La Shay
• Makeup ArtistCarmen Lopez
• Makeup ArtistAngela Marinis
• Key Makeup ArtistClaudia Pascual
• Makeup ArtistJoe Rossi
• Post Production SupervisorTina Anderson
• Production SupervisorBryan Yaconelli
• Sound Effects EditorJamie Hardt

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• fire
• police brutality
• church choir
• based on true story
• beating
• murder
• racism
• church
• detroit, michigan
• 1960s

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere2017-07-25R· Fox Theatre
• Theatrical (limited)2017-07-28R
• Theatrical2017-08-04R
• Physical2017-12-12R

Also known as

International titles

• Detroit em RebeliãoBR
• Detroit: Zona de conflictoCL
• Detroit: Zona de conflictoAR
• 디트로이트KR
• 底特律HK
• 底特律CN