Cert 15 143mins Stars 5

Full of fear, panic and prejudice, two British actors excel as Americans caught up in the devastating Detroit race riots of July 1967.

The Force Awakens star John Boyega is a security guard who acts as our witness to events, while Will Poulter is a racist trigger happy cop leading the search of a motel for a sniper.

To a soundtrack of sirens and soul tunes, the head banging brutality is punctuated by photos from the real events.

Kathryn Bigelow is the first and only woman to win the best director Oscar, for her Iraq war bomb disposal drama The Hurt Locker in 2009. She was nominated for the best film award in 2012 for her hunt Osama bin Laden thriller, Zero Dark Thirty, and this film will certainly add to her list of nominations.

Once again she casts a critical eye on the machismo of a militarised environment, and uses her particular brand of rapid editing and hand held camerawork to generate heart stopping tension.