From Potsy Ponciroli, the director behind Old Henry, comes Motor City. A movie that takes Alan Ritchson’s ex-con character, John Miller, and denies him the simple dream of a quiet life post-prison. Frame a guy for a crime he didn’t commit, and naturally, he’s going to paint Detroit red to settle the score.
Alongside Ritchson, the stacked cast features Ben Foster, Pablo Schreiber, Ben McKenzie, Lionel Boyce, and Shailene Woodley. If you’re hunting for an action flick drenched in unapologetic blood and gore, this certainly delivers. It masquerades as a revenge-fueled love story. But don’t hold your breath for a fairytale ending—there are zero happy endings in store. It’s pure, unrelenting brutality.
Now, full disclosure: I’m a big Alan Ritchson fan. From “Blue Mountain State” to “Blood Drive” to “Reacher,” I’ve tracked his career for years. And having interviewed him in the past, I can confirm he’s as genuinely nice as they come. Which makes what I’m about to say hurt even more.
The “Silent” Gimmick & Missing Logic
Motor City was heavily billed as a dialogue-free movie. Spoiler alert: it’s not.
The actors spend most of the runtime silently emoting through heavy squints and exaggerated expressions. I get it; when performing with no words, the director wanted to get the point across; however, it simply goes overboard. However, the film bizarrely breaks its own dialogue-free rule for exactly two lines. No declarations of love, no poignant moments of redemption—just two utterly random sentences dropped out of nowhere: “Merry Christmas” and “Fuck-off, man.” It’s as jarring as it is pointless.
Then there are the visual choices. While Ben Foster’s heavy makeup looks fantastic in the end scene, Ritchson’s end-game prosthetics look painfully bad. It took me a second to even recognize him. In fact, Ritchson looks subtly off throughout the entire movie, though it’s hard to pinpoint whether to blame the lighting, the angles, the makeup chair, or maybe the relaxed time off between the seasons of “Reacher”.
If you’re purely here for the action, you’ll get your fill of relentless beatdowns, gunplay, and fiery explosions. But the narrative backbone holding those set pieces together is paper-thin, propped up by baffling character choices that will test the absolute limits of your suspension of disbelief.
Tropes, Missteps, and the Verdict
Instead of giving us reason to root for anyone, the movie populates Motor City with deeply unlikable, shallow characters stuck in heavily recycled tropes that we’ve seen way too many times.
However, Shailene Woodley’s character gets the worst of it. Rather than crafting a compelling figure worth fighting for, the direction repeatedly resorts to gratuitous, borderline-insulting nip slips that exist for no other reason than cheap shock value. Reducing her to a shallow sex object undercuts any genuine emotional weight the film desperately tries to build around her fate. When the time comes actually to feel something for her, all you’re left with is frustration over her nonsensical decisions that put her in the situation to begin with.
Let me make this clear: I do not blame the actors. They could only perform with what they were given; this time, it wasn’t much. I will say that the cameo by Jack white was pleasant.
The Bottom Line: Is there a silver lining? Exactly two: the first? The cinematography. The film is stunningly shot, but pretty visuals can’t carry a script running on fumes and a gimmick that isn’t quite true. The other is a pretty decent soundtrack featuring great rock and blues songs from the ’70s. That includes songs from Jack White, Bill Withers, and Fleetwood Mac.
The bad news: Motor City ends up a letdown of epic proportions. But hey, this is just my opinion. Decide for yourself when Motor City hits theaters on July 24 via IFC Films.
