Watch John Boyega In The Thrilling Trailer For Detroit

If you check out John Boyega's IMDb profile, you'll see the man has been incredibly busy, starring in a whole host of sci-fi films like The Circle, Pacific Rim: Uprising, and of course, Star Wars: The Last Jedi. But the English actor recently stepped back into the real world for Detroit, the latest film from Kathryn Bigelow, and the explosive first trailer dropped this morning. It's everything you'd expect from the director of The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. In other words, it looks gripping, tense, and totally amazing.

With a screenplay by Mark Boal (who previously teamed up with Bigelow for her aforementioned thrillers), Detroit will tell the real-life story of the 12th Street riot, a 1967 uprising that turned the Motor City into a war zone. It all began when a group of police officers raided an illegal nightclub, setting off a riot in a neighborhood rife with poverty and racial inequality. Things got so bad that both the National Guard and the Army were called in to deal with the situation, and four days later, more than 40 people were dead, hundreds were injured, and more than 1,000 buildings had been destroyed.

It was one of the worst riots in American history, an event that definitely deserves its own film, and Kathryn Bigelow is the perfect director to bring the story to the big screen. According to Variety, the film will explore the "systemic racism in urban Detroit" that led to all the chaos, and it looks like the movie will focus on Boyega's police officer, a man who finds himself caught between a group of innocent civilians and some very angry guys with guns. The film, which also stars John Krasinski and Anthony Mackie, is set to hit theaters on August 4. If Bigelow's earlier films are any indication, this is going to be one of those movies you'll spend sitting on the edge of your seat from beginning to end.

While you're waiting to see if Boyega makes it through the riot alive, be sure to check up on some historical movies that weren't exactly accurate.