7/12 ForReel Score | 3/5 Stars

Set in 1977 Detroit, Potsy Ponciroli’s Motor City tells you what its deal is early on with protagonist John Miller (Alan Ritchson) immediately throwing people off buildings and crashing onto moving vehicles without a peep. He’s going after a gangster (Ben Foster) that has framed him and taken his girlfriend, Sophia (Shailene Woodley), from him and already you can see that he is relentless. It’s a strong start to what ends up being a fairly interesting but fundamentally flawed revenge thriller with very little dialogue. The movie’s main draws are the action, visuals, music, and editing and to its credit, it delivers at least partially on all of those things. While the idea of the movie being silent is interesting and well executed for the most part, it also ends up being what holds it back the most.

What the film really fumbles on is its own wordless gimmick, a choice that ends up working against fluent storytelling for at least part of the movie. You have some scenes that play out much slower than they otherwise would because of the lack of dialogue, and some scenes that are flat out confusing. At first, it plays like an interesting stylistic choice that I could be down with, but it cheats a few times throughout by either letting characters talk or by having them talk with clever ways of us not being able to hear them sprinkled in.

The gimmick could’ve worked better if it had just employed the latter strategy, but even that gets messy because there’s no continuity with it. Shailene Woodley and an officer (Ben McKenzie) talk but the shot is framed with them in the background and a pianist in the foreground playing a melody over their argument. Execution like this really worked for keeping the concept engaging, but Motor City is limited on clever ideas and for me, every scene seemed to become more and more absurd in justifying the wordlessness. Instead of characters calling other characters to get their attention, the film resorts too often to whistles, snaps, and shoulder taps. Which is odd because it starts with this funny stylized approach that plays well with characters pouting at the misfortune of others, almost miming the words they mean to say. It was cute and fun, but the movie doesn’t commit enough to the idea. I respect Ponciroli and writer Chad St. John for trying something different in theatrical storytelling, but this is a concept that requires going all in on a consistent form, but Motor City struggles to devote itself to one style or another.

Something else that failed to elevate the narrative competence of Motor City was Shailene Woodley’s character. Sophia is the emotional anchor of the film, but she’s a plot device more than she is a character. She’s with John after he helps her out of an abusive relationship with our aforementioned gangster until John gets framed for a crime he didn’t commit. To simplify the situation without using dialogue, she immediately is angry at him and leaves him. We’re not entirely sure how much time passes after that but the next thing we see is the gangster now in the present, easily charming her to be with him again. It sinks her right back into her old bad habit, ultimately stripping her of any agency she might’ve had; her story is the biggest waste and tragedy of the film.

Now to the cool stuff.

This movie’s action rocks. There’s some shaky editing here and there, but it typically tended to flow excellently with what we were seeing and was further enhanced by the music cut with it as well. Editor Joe Galdo deserves his flowers here. He takes what cinematographer John Matysiak and music director Jack White (yeah, that one) give him and puts it all together in a very satisfying way that draws the audience in. The only real problem with it visually is some of the lighting in the nighttime scenes. It can be hard to make out what the movie is trying to show you at times. It’s got this fantastic rock score that knows when to mellow only to suddenly spike with each haymaker Ritchson tosses at his foes. I can nitpick at what could’ve been done better, but at the end of the day, the technical aspects of the film are exceptional enough to make flaws forgivable.

The supporting cast ties this whole thing together. Ritchson has these two friends who we assume are war buddies from their matching tattoos and they have fighting styles that are all so completely different from one another. Where Ritchson is more down to business, Amar Chadha Patel’s Singh and Lionel Boyce’s Youngblood each specialize in their own specific fighting styles. The film’s variety in the action really benefits from their inclusion and makes the whole thing more enjoyable. There’s some intense fights, especially this great elevator battle near the end and the creativity of the setpieces are what I would consider the highlight of the film.

Motor City is a perfectly fine popcorn flick if you’re willing to overlook and be less nitpicky about its obvious issues. It has solid action, a good cast, and some pretty well done editing that brings it all together. Once you get past the shakiness of the core concept and the lack of depth in the cast of characters, you’re in for a pretty sick ride. Alan Ritchson once again cements himself as a damn cool action hero who can do just about anything with a shotgun and a dream.

Movie Review: "Motor City" Overstays Its Silent Welcome