Director Potsy Ponciroli made a name for himself in the indie world with his word-of-mouth hit Old Henry in late 2021. His follow-up, 2024’s Greedy People failed to capitalize off of that film’s success and garnered little attention. However, his third feature film, a nearly silent film with less than a dozen lines of dialogue had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and earned a hearty amount of buzz in its wake. Finally opening in theaters this weekend, Ponicroli’s latest film is a unique example of something fresh that audiences don’t typically see nowadays. Relying on pure visual storytelling and an eclectic soundtrack, his third film is a filmmaking gimmick that largely works.
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Set in 1970s Detroit, John Miller (Alan Ritchson) is a blue collar working man and Vietnam war vet trying to do right in his life after a stint in prison. He falls in love with Sophia (Shailene Woodley), who has just gotten out of a toxic relationship with drug lord/gangster Reynolds (a particularly slimy Ben Foster) and plans to marry her. As John’s life seems to be falling back into place, he is set up for a crime he didn’t commit by Reynolds and corrupt police lieutenant Savick (Pablo Schreiber), sentenced to 25 years. As if ruining his life wasn’t enough, Reynolds steals Sophia back while John sits in prison. The furious John plans his revenge, plotting to escape from prison with the aid of his old gang/war buddies including Youngblood (The Bear‘s Lionel Boyce) and Singh (Amar Chadha-Patel). Meanwhile, Detective Kent (Ben McKenzie), one of the few good cops in the precinct, senses that something involving John’s case isn’t adding up, forcing him to look further into his arrest and dig deep into the shady dealings of his police lieutenant.
Directed by Potsy Ponciroli, Motor City is a unique film experiment. An action revenge flick in the vein of John Woo’s 2023 film Silent Night, Ponciroli’s latest film is mostly a silent film that conveys its emotion through visual storytelling, gunfire and the painful wails of our main protagonist. While Woo’s (significantly inferior) film arguably had a more clear cut purpose for excluding its dialogue, Ponciroli’s film coasts primarily on its novelty. Is there necessarily a reason for the lack of dialogue? No. Yet Motor City is compelling enough to accept it on its own terms, bolstered greatly by its slick style, strong cast and use of music.
Alan Ritchson is perfectly cast as the soulful brute whose last resort at a free life is to break free from his prison cell and exact revenge on those who’ve wronged him. Ritchson’s striking physicality and expressive eyes are wonderfully utilized, conveying every ounce of rage, sorrow and heartache almost effortlessly. Ben Foster once again excels as the smarmy villain of the film, whose coke fein night club owner is appropriately despicable, yet charming enough to buy into why someone like Sophia would fall back in with him. Foster mugs and gestures to the camera like few actors can. Whether its how he snorts a line or throws a handful of dirt on a casket during a funeral, Foster’s performance is perfectly in tune with the pseudo-grindhouse sensibility that Ponciroli is aiming for. Shailene Woodley immensely elevates her thankless role as the foxy diner waitress who seemingly has every testosterone-filled man within the city limits pining after her. Pablo Schreiber, who rocks the hell out of his groovy, period-appropriate facial hair, is a great villain for audiences to absolutely loathe, even if he often looks like a spitting image of Noah Wyle.
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Ponciroli’s film lives and dies on its ability to tell a compelling story visually and the Old Henry filmmaker exceeds on that level. Ponciroli might not be the strongest stylist in recent years, relying heavily on slow-motion to accentuate his most operatic gestures of emotion, but he knows how to craft an array of memorable imagery. While some faulty pacing hinders what could have been a strong 80-90 minute thrillride, the film fully comes alive in its thrilling final act. Ponciroli builds up to a volcanic eruption of violence that more than delivers the goods for any audience member seeking a cathartic exercise in revenge. A kick-ass elevator fight between Ritchson and Schreiber is expertly crafted, using careful shot compositions and tight framing to elevate the claustrophobia. It’s a ruthless and brutal sequence that is worth experiencing on the big screen alone. A climactic car chase is enthralling and firmly places the audience on the edge of their seat. While its hard to craft an image of Alan Ritchson dual-wielding sawed-off shotguns that could be perceived as ugly, Ponciroli and cinematographer John Matysiak shoot the Reacher star like the towering presence he surely is.
The impeccable soundtrack is well-placed, but doesn’t overpower the film. Ponciroli makes splendid use of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” during John’s arrest and his prison escape is set to the euphoric sounds of The Moody Blues’ “Nights in White Satin”. Other needle drops include David Bowie’s “Cat People” and Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love”, but the filmmaker wisely allows Steve Jablonsky’s strong score to help guide the tone in the film’s second half. Jack White, who executive produces and cameos in the film, adds some local Michigan credibility to the film, even with the historic Fox Theatre making a central appearance, sending the film off with the use of his banger track “Archbishop Harold Holmes”.
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Motor City is a compelling and unique new take on the tried-and-true revenge story that boasts a great deal of style and exhilarating sequences of action. Director Potsy Ponciroli’s expressionist style of directing serves this largely dialogue-free film well, utilizing the strengths of his cast, most notably Alan Ritchson and Ben Foster. As faulty as it might often be, it’s a film that goes out of its way to showcase a different style of storytelling and gives audiences something that they haven’t typically seen in recent years. No one will mistake this for an important or vital piece of cinema, but for what Ponciroli sets out to accomplish, Motor City succeeds handily.
Motor City is now playing in theaters.
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