- Rating: B+
- Recommend: 90%
Plot (Non-Spoiling)
This American period crime thriller focuses on an African American gangster, Curt Goynes (played by Don Cheadle), in 1950’s Detroit who is recruited to participate in a blackmailing scheme. His recruiter, Doug Jones (played by Brendan Fraser), is aware of the fact that Goynes is looking to flee town because of a dispute with Mob leader Aldrick Watkins (played by Bill Duke). Goynes, along with Ronald Russo (played by Benicio del Toro), are tasked to babysit the family of an accountant, Matt Wertz (played by David Harbour), while another man, Charley (played by Kieran Culkin), takes Matt to his place of work so he can steal a document from his boss’s safe. The document is unknown, but it is enough to pay these men thousands of dollars to babysit. This raises the eyebrows of Goynes and Russo, leading them to question what the document’s true worth is.
Diversity
This film tried to accurately portray the balance of power within Detroit, one of the wealthiest automotive capitals of the world at the time. It is a period piece that focuses on white-collar crime, so the main cast is unsurprisingly comprised of mostly white actors (82% white). The film’s overall content dealt with issues within the ultra-rich or suburban areas of Detroit, so the diversity is accurately shown as poor in those areas. However, there was a stronger female presence that can only be noticed by watching the film. The characters in power (the ones with the most action) are still mainly white men (80% male), also consistent to 1950’s Detroit. Behind the scenes, where there’s no historical limit to diversity, the writer and director were white men, and the producers were 75% white and 75% male.
Review
Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the film follows a similar pace as the Ocean’s Trilogy (which he also directed) along with similar cinematography. The acting of the main and supporting characters was excellent, but a minor character, Lonnie, struggled to keep up with the talent. The plot does get a bit confusing as many names are shuffled throughout the dialogue of scenes. To make it more difficult, many of those names have not been introduced physically in the film yet. The viewer therefore cannot even put a face to the name which leads to a healthy amount of rewinding in order to fully grasp what is being said. I recommend this film to anyone interested in an exciting crime thriller with a lot of substance. It is certainly worth a watch as the story’s development keeps the audience on their toes throughout the film.
