Review: 'Motor City' Fumbles Its Dialogue-Free Gamble
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- Motor City, directed by Potsy Ponciroli, is a dialogue-free revenge thriller set in 1977 Detroit and now playing in theaters.
- Alan Ritchson stars as John Miller, a hulking ex-con framed by gangster Reynolds (Ben Foster) and a corrupt cop (Pablo Schreiber), with Shailene Woodley as girlfriend Sophia.
- Ponciroli's prior film, the 2021 Tim Blake Nelson western 'Old Henry,' topped the Netflix charts the week before the review, marking his commercial breakthrough.
- The reviewer finds only three setpieces succeed — a knife fight in an elevator, a prison break, and a shootout amid factory sparks — while the rest strains to compensate for the silent conceit.
- Settings read as 'blandly digital' and costumes make the 1977 setting 'comedically redundant,' while a soundtrack of 'overused bangers' from Bill Withers and Fleetwood Mac draws attention to itself.
- Ponciroli is compared unfavorably to John Woo and Robert Rodriguez; the reviewer concludes the film is 'a much easier movie to root for than it is to enjoy.'
Why it matters: For audiences drawn to genre pastiche or Ritchson's star power, the review signals that 'Motor City' underdelivers on a promising high-concept premise, with only Ritchson's physicality and three action beats rising above a clumsily executed gimmick. The negative verdict complicates Ponciroli's trajectory after his 'Old Henry' Netflix surprise.
