Film
A dramatic story, based on the stories of a number of people in the midst of the Detroit riots, in 1967. A group of police officers respond to a possible sniper at a motel, but instead of seeking justice, they seek retribution.
Lead my police officer Krauss (Will Poulter – The Maze Runner, We’re The Millers), tensions and tempers run high, as very soon a divide between just and hatred is established, with strong racial undertones. Not far away, security guard Dismukes (John Boyega – Star Wars: The Last Jedi, The Circle) is working a night shift, looking after a store, protecting it from the many rioters and looters.
Dismukes know there is a balance of compliance to be had, if innocent people are to survive as Krauss becomes more volatile. The emotional sparring between these two is palpable. You’re not sure if you love or hate Dismukes not taking more decisive action, but you certainly want to do something bad to Krauss as he sprouts hatred for all in the motel. Characters well portrayed by both actors.
Detroit deals with racial tension, yet shows that on both sides, in this mess of crime, fear and hatred, there were good and bad on both sides of the blue line, as change began to take over, and diversity and integration became the norm.
The film is a stark look at the stories told by those who were present for the tragic events portrayed, and gives much pause for how far people have come, and how far many still need to go. Some very apt messages in the film that are appropriate not just to the America of today, but could be for South Africa, and many other countries too.
Detroit, an engrossing drama, well rounded on directing, talent and portrayal, One that would be enjoyed by many.
Disc
Overall, the disc for Detroit is of average technical quality. There is an issue with the labelling of the additional video clip, the bonus material, as plural on the discs menu, and debatable if it should be called a special feature on the disc packaging.
Video on the disc does contain compression artefacts, although not too distracting when viewed at a distance.
The main feature itself is an engrossing film, telling the stories of several persons caught up in the Detroit riots of the late 60’s.
Detroit is available now, to purchase on disc, in South Africa.
Video
Video is encoded at a decent average bitrate, however there are artefacts visible on-screen when viewed on a larger screen, from a closer viewing distance. At normal viewing distance, these artefacts are not much of a problem, and not very noticeable.
Owing to the setting of the film, the colours are not vibrant, but this is a creative decision. There is no extensive visible colour bleed. Darker scene maintain a fair amount of detail too.
Video for the bonus feature look pretty much the same as the main feature, however video for the menu system is compressed to a lower bitrate, meaning there is more room on the disc for the main feature.
Audio
Audio is encoded at a high average bitrate, and presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack, with an alternative stereo 2.0 downmix.
Dialogue is clear via the centre speaker, with the front channels carrying the weight of the soundtrack. Use of the surround channels is limited to expanding the on-screen world, to better draw the viewer into the story, and but the lack of constant use should be attributed to the genre and nature of the story.
Navigation
Navigation is simple, and easy to follow. The main menu has a static background, with text menu items to play the main feature, scene selection, bonus features, and setup.
The main menu does have accompanying music, however be warned, as lyrics do contain swearing, so should be treated the same as the age restriction on the main feature.
The scene selection sub-menus each contain ten small, desaturated, still thumbnails, for a total of twenty chapters. While these are numbered, they are not labelled, nor is there any chapter info in or on the disc packaging, so a fair amount of guesswork would be needed in order to navigate to a particular point in the main feature.
The bonus features sub-menu is slightly misleading with its plural label, as there is only one item in this sub-menu, being a test link to the feature itself.
The setup sub-menu contains text links for each of the surround or stereo soundtrack options.
Bonus Features
The plural link to the bonus features sub-menu leads to just one feature, very plainly named Detroit Feature. Coming in at just under two minutes, this really should not be called a feature. Not even a featurette. Being shorter than many film trailers (case in point, the trailer for Detroit, embedded below, is near a full minute longer), this feels more like a teaser trailer, featuring the persons that some of the films characters are based on, and not a feature, or anything along the lines of a bonus. The labelling should have told it as it is. Sadly, such caveats are what one has come to expect from the distributors NEXT.
There are also trailers that autoplay at the beginning of the disc for One Last Heist, and Serpent. While these can be fast-forward or skipped individually, they can not be access again via the discs menu system.
Packaging
Packaging for Detroit is pretty standard, with a poster on the front with some images, and the films title. The front is devoid of any actor names, choosing to taught the past films of director Kathryn Bigelow.
The back of the casing has a short synopsis and usual technical labels and information. Centre to this is a label for “DVD Special Feature”, under which there is no name, but just featurette. At least this label does not give list the additional features as plural, like the menu system erroneously does. Still, referring to the short clip on the disc as a feature, or featurette, still does not quite fit the clips content.
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