‘Detroit’ through a lens, darkly
“Detroit,” as a movie, is all over the place, yet oddly that messiness is one of its strengths.
It is also appropriate. Necessary, even. It fits. Chaos reigned during the 1967 riots in the city of the title, and director Kathryn Bigelow is a master at plunging the audience into the violence and confusion of any situation — see the obvious “Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty” for proof, but also the vampire masterpiece “Near Dark” as another example. She’s pulling the strings, but we
Halle Berry plays Karla, who works as a waitress at a diner. She’s divorced, feisty and lacks a babysitter. Her young son, Frankie (Sage Correa), waits patiently at the lunch counter for her to finish her shift so they can spend the day together.
They head over to a carnival and are watching a band when Karla steps away to take a phone call. While she’s speaking, she looks back at Frankie, and he’s there. Looks again, he’s there. Looks again, and he’s gone.
At this point, we’re only 12 minutes into the movie. Director Luis Prieto (”Pusher”) then injects the proceedings with a shot of adrenaline, as it turns into a breathless pursuit between Karla — in a minivan! — and two lowlifes in a beat-up Mustang with Frankie captive in the car.
The relentless cat and mouse game across Louisiana highways is tense and exciting. Prieto, obviously inspired by Steven Spielberg’s TV-movie classic “Duel,” follows that film’s lead by sticking to Karla’s point of view. Initially, we only see glimpses of the abductors — a hand, maybe, or a fast look as they hurl a spare tire at the minivan. It’s unnerving. Then the Mustang’s window lowers and we see Frankie with a knife to his throat. It’s positively rattling.
The spectacular car chase, with SUVs literally tumbling down the highway, takes a major chunk of the running time. That’s the movie at its best. Karla has no phone — she dropped it when she bolted out of the carnival — so her pursuit is strictly solitary, which ratchets up her frustration. Of course, that means we get Karla talking to herself, saying things like “I’ll never let you go, sweetheart” as she looks at a picture of the kid. That’s a tougher sell.
The movie’s pace slows a bit once the chase stops. Karla winds up at a sheriff’s office and is spooked by photos of missing children on the wall, a starkly effective moment. But once she’s out of the minivan and viewers can take a breath, questions start appearing. Like, for example, where are all the police in Louisiana? Smartly, she gets back behind the wheel before you can start thinking too much.
Obviously, “Kidnap” isn’t a movie designed to be examined very closely. It’s a taut and concise action yarn that probably would be praised as a terrific B-movie if it starred an unknown instead of a gorgeous Oscar winner.
In other words, just go along for the ride.
Reach the reporter at randy.cordova@arizonarepublic.com or 602-4448849. Twitter.com/randy_cordova.