I wanna destroy the city I live in, fictionally (maybe sometimes in real life). Don’t get me wrong, I love my city, but seriously nothing would bring me a greater joy than watching it get blown up, smashed, giant robots squashing people and aliens zapping them a la Mars Attacks? maybe something natural, Michigan is surrounded by water after all. A Micheal Bay-esque director with a big budget could have some real fun with it. I’d love something creative and new, but even some mindless drivel would be fun to watch knowing the locations.
There is definitely a lack of movies set, or even filmed, in and around Detroit might not be odd but is certainly lacking. We have a few classics, like Robocop, or Gran Torino. I personally enjoyed It Follows, a unique and fun horror. True Romance is another obvious one to mention, as it starts in Detroit. But none of those really capture the feeling of Detroit, and none of them are true disaster with a capital D movies.
I lament the fact director Niell Blomkamp didn’t film District 9 in Detroit, an apparently impossible demand from Eminem when asked to be in the starring role.
A reason I bring up that Detroit is ready for some havoc centers around the development of a new skyscraper at Hudson’s Detroit, a mixed use development that is currently under construction. The tower is capped, and at 685 feet tall, is the second tallest building in Michigan. A single tall building isn’t a reason to spend 50m on a movie, but it can at least start the conversation.
The gothic, sometimes brutalist, concrete skyscrapers and builings of the city would make for some interesting visuals as things blow them up. Honestly, I can’t think of any movies that really capture that, so I’m not sure what it would look like, if I’m being completely honest.
Michigan Central Station is a key example of some long overdue development. Sitting vacant since the late 80-ish, Ford bought it out and spent millions fixing it up. And again, would be fun to blow up.