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I’m still trying to figure out if I want to continue doing this website and just when I’m about ready to pack it all up and sail off into the sunset, I watch a movie like Motor City starring Reacher megastar Alan Ritchson. While many will balk at the no dialogue gimmick (there are a few spoken lines throughout), I feel that while this is a cinema trope now, this flick from director Potsy Ponciroli and writer Chad St. John uses it effectively and, in many cases, the story is heightened because of it. Most mainstream viewers will probably tire of the movie before it closes out but if you stay with it then you’ll be treated to one of the finest sequences of blood-soaked Armageddon ever.
Star Alan Ritchson is such an imposing figure onscreen that I believe he was tailor made for a film where he says absolutely nothing until the very last seconds of the film. Ritchson is such a force of nature that he speaks volumes with his actions and brooding exterior, and he is what drives Motor City and gives the movie its heartbeat. That’s not to say that the stacked supporting cast including Shaliene Woodley9 the Divergent franchise), Ben Foster (Hell or High Water, The Mechanic), HALO’s Pablo Schreiber and Gotham’s Ben McKenzie are all excellent as well, but Ritchson is the instrument of blunt force trauma here that brings it to the finish line.
The plot for Motor City is, at its core, a typical revenge fueled thriller with Ritchson starring as John Miller, who is essentially a blue-collar everyman looking to survive in an unforgiving Detroit in 1977. Miller has some things going for him as he is an ex-con who recently sees his probation era end and he wants nothing more than to propose to his girlfriend Sophia played by Woodley. Unfortunately for our Romeo and Juliet, the latter has a violent history with local drug dealer and gangster Reynolds (Foster) who uses his connections with crooked cop Lieutenant Savick, played with the right amount of sleaze by Pablo Schreiber, to frame Miller and have him incarcerated once again. Wouldn’t you know that the cops come busting in right after she said yes to put even more sting into the dramatics. Believing that John has succumbed to old ways, Sophia reunites with Reynolds while John makes his plan for vengeance thus executing a violent battle on the mean streets where there are no winners.
Now, like I said, the plot is standard and we’ve seen this before where the wronged badass gets his just due of a dish best served cold but it’s all in the execution and with that Motor City excels and drives a feverish decent into vengeance and consequences. Now, the film is not completely silent as there are a few sentences sprinkled here and there and there is a rocking 70’s soundtrack overlayed onto it but I hope that people saw what I did and that’s a throwback to films like Serpico and Death Wish where there are no good guys only bad and badder.
The look and feel of Motor City are sensational and it was a home run that Ponciroli, St. John and company to choose this era to tell their tale. They immerse you into a forgotten decade of sex, drugs and sleaze and for Generation Z, this is a solid film to see how things were back then and how the aesthetics worked. The cinematography is immaculate and there is an aura of despair layered throughout, and you know that the ending, while satisfying to an extent, will be somber and hardcore.
What also makes the movie tick is that it’s not only a no holds barred tale of vengeance, but it is also a gut punch tragic love story. Yes, I referred to John and Sophia as Romeo and Juliet and that should be some brooding foreshadowing for you without spoiling anything. Motor City is ultra-bloody, savage and violent but in between all that, there is a Shakespearian level of unflinching dramatic overtones that propel the film to its jaw crushing conclusion.
I have to continue to highlight Ritchsin as many out there will compare this to Reacher and while some of that is justified, there is so much more to his performance. Ritchson continues to surprise me as the versatile actor continues to challenge himself and do different things. Any an actor would shoot this role down, but Ritchson embraces the chaos and non-conformist storytelling. Yes, he has a championship looking physique and unwavering intensity to him, but he also radiates massive sympathy to his role of John Miller, and it is that aspect where Ritchson truly wins the audience over. Make no mistake, when it’s time for the vengeance, Ritchson deploys his signature beast mode for optimum effect.
Woodley is more than up for bringing some humanity and resonance to her role and even though she is severely flawed, she is a victim to her environment and still brings a ray of light through the darkness. Foster, who might be one of the most elite character actors working today, pours on the sleaze and unredeeming factors to his role of Reynolds. There is nothing good at all about him and Foster livens up the film with his low-key sleaze and unapologetic actions that just makes the viewer want to see his comeuppance even more.
Things sort of lag in the middle of the film, but I was never bored and was soaking all that it had to offer but the real action hits within the last 20 minutes of the film. The climax is an epic masterpiece of bloody brutality complete with one of the most inventive, limb ripping elevator fights ever choreographed. Whenever there is an elevator beatdown, I think I automatically give the film another star but here Miller confronts Savick in what could be a savage slice of unflinching action design that deserves multiple viewings. It’s that damn good and the choreography has some of the most unflinching, gore inducing moments I have seen in a minute, and fans of action will be talking about this one for years to come.
I must give massive props to The Bear’s Lionel Boyce and Willow’s Amar Chadha-Patel who portray Youngblood and Singh respectively. These two are essentially Miller’s to the end comrades from The Nam and they get equal amounts of opportunity to pour on the violence in the finale’s gore splattering choas. Chadha-Patel especially has more than one standout exercise in crowd pleasing brutality that cannot be missed.
Overall, Motor City is peak action cinema that comes for the no dialogue gimmick and stays for the apocalyptic finale. Ponciroli has crafted a blood-soaked love letter to a forgotten era of crime thrillers, and this truly is pure, unadulterated noirish, ultra-violent crime cinema on fever dream overload. Alan Ritchson is brute force personified in a savage tale of no holds barred vengeance laced with a gut punch tragic love story that is both bittersweet and emotionally disruptive at the same time. In a year where many will be talking about The Odyssey and others, Motor City is a bona fide sleeper hit for action cinema, and it checks all the boxes for hardcore fans in spades.
I was sold with Motor City when I simply found out about the premise and who it was starring. After viewing it finally, I can confirm that this is assault on the sense’s cinema that starts off like a 70’s Hallmark movie first before it kicks into Scarface mode. Ritchson is an absolute beast, and his retro rage is front and center here as the action kicks it back to the glory days of adrenaline cinema when the hits felt real, the explosions singed your hair and the bullets sliced through the air like knife through butter. Ritchson is proof that there are still action stars out there that are reminiscent to the 80’s when Stallone and Schwarzenegger fought to see who could get bigger. simply sit back, relax and enjoy the bloodletting without having to worry about listening to dialogue. It’s overrated anyways.
VERDICT: 4 OUT OF 5 STARS
Alan Ritchson Deploys Retro Rage in the Newest Visceral Actioner that Proves Action Speaks Louder than Words!
