Joey Magidson
Almost immediately, Motor City asks you to get on its wavelength. Now, it’s a fairly particular wavelength, but one that rewards you getting on board with. Opting to make an action movie with nearly no dialogue, told often in slow motion, all could add up to an intermidable experience. Instead, in the hands of filmmaker Potsy Ponciroli and his cast, it winds up being stylistically singular while still telling a very throwback kind of a tale.
Motor City has the plot of a B-movie, to be sure, but is told in an art house manner, making for a fairly unique flick. There were times early on where the film threatened to lose me, but once I accepted it for what it was, there were rewards to be found. What initially feels almost like a fever dream, especially if you go in expecting a traditional action tale, eventually becomes an offbeat and operatic genre offering.
Taking place in 1977 Detroit, we meet working class auto worker and romantic John Miller (Alan Ritchson) on the warpath. Flashing back, we see him fall for a local gangster’s girl in Sophia (Shailene Woodley), proposing to her. A veteran and ex con, her love has put him on the straight and narrow. Enraged by this, gangster Reynolds (Ben Foster) plans to frame the man. Succeeding by planting a stash of drugs in his car, John goes to prison, his life ruined and Sophia stuck back with Reynolds. Not willing to take this lying down, John plots his revenge.
As he plans a revenge campaign against the man who took his girl away, first he’ll need to get out of jail. Escaping by ingenious means, he heads for Reynolds, determined not just to avenge his stolen life, but to get Sophia back in the process. Through it all, this is all depicted dialogue free, with the soundtrack providing as much to explain the plot as anything else.
Alan Ritchson cuts an impressive frame, with his massive size, but he also turns in a strong performance by letting this force of vengeance have a notable soft side. His hard exterior mixes with an emotional core that invests you in his quest for justice. Ritchson would obviously be in demand for more straightforward action, but it speaks to his tastes that he opted for something like this instead. Shailene Woodley does some very nice eye acting as she slowly showcases an agency perhaps not expected. Ritchson and Woodley have a palpable chemistry together. As for Ben Foster, he’s suitably volatile and unsettling, if doing the kind of work we’ve seen from him before. Still, few do it better than Foster. Supporting players here include Lionel Boyce, Amar Chadha-Patel, Ben McKenzie, Pablo Schreiber, and more.
Director Potsy Ponciroli and writer Chad St. John have conceived of a very unique way to do an action flick. Ponciroli’s visuals, which often evoke Martin Scorsese, are hypnotic once you’re on its wavelength. Mixing with a compelling, almost Quentin Tarantino style soundtrack, gives it very specific vibes. The slow motion, the soundscape, it’s all depicting B movie material through an arthouse lens. As for the script, Ponciroli and St. John keep it very sparse, with almost no dialogue, and scenes playing out with songs helping to move things forward. It took me a bit to settle in, and Motor City threatened to lose me at times, but ultimately became strangely compelling.
Motor City is certainly not for everyone, but by the time the credits rolled, I’d been won over. If nothing else, Ponciroli is an artist to keep an eye on. Old Henry was a real hint at some of his talents, with this film showing even more stylistic flair. Adventurous genre fans would do well to give this one a shot.
SCORE: ★★★
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