Photo via IMDb
By Keith Walther | Rose Law Group Reporter
What do you get when you strip away all dialogue from a basic action plot and set it all to music? A pretentious, violent, overly long music video. “Motor City” tries to flaunt its artistic flair like a peacock, forgetting the point of a movie along the way: to entertain. While creativity is something to be cherished in cinema, some risks should never be taken.
It’s Detroit during the 1970s, when sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll reigned supreme. John Miller (Alan Ritchson) is trying to eke out a living, but he finds himself in a love triangle with his would-be fiancé Sophia (Shailene Woodley) and a powerful drug dealer named Reynolds (Ben Foster). With everything stacked against him, including crooked cops, Miller is put on a path to vengeance with ‘70s hits fueling his vendetta.
Sometimes thinking outside the box has its advantages, but many other times going outside the box proves why that was not done in the first place. For director Potsy Ponciroli, the latter is unfortunately true as he tries to reinvent the wheel with a basic plot, but the sloppy execution results in abject failure. Removing almost all dialogue from the film requires the camera to tell a majority of the story, and the story is simplistic enough for that to occur, but the efforts come across more as a gimmick than artistic creativity. Scenes where the players simply share purposeful and telling stares, avoiding normal verbal interaction, become a laughable exercise of futility. Relatability is eradicated when the characters share meaningful looks rather than talk like normal human beings or gesticulate wildly like a passionate Italian on speed. Potsy even drowns out the rarely spoken lines with a constant stream of ‘70s rock songs or odd electronic music that defies Potsy’s original gritty theme. It’s almost as if a younger, more contemporary musician overtakes a baby boomer’s playlist, not realizing the tonal disaster it causes.
Potsy seemingly has no comprehension of the negative impact his styling has on the pacing of the film. As the music video plays out, it becomes increasingly frustrating and monotonous to endure. As one song leads into another and so on, viewers begin to lose patience, wondering how many songs are left until Carson Daly makes an appearance to provide a TRL countdown. Potsy’s baffling decision to overuse slow motion throughout the movie further compounds the pacing issues. His constant use of slow motion drags the film out, extending the runtime unnecessarily.
Another confounding choice was revealing the entire trajectory of the plot within the first five minutes of the film. Beginning with end, he gives away exactly how the story will play out, eliminating any suspense as audiences simply wait for the rest of the movie to catch up with that opening scene, only to yield an unintentionally comical finale. The only scene in the entirety of the film that is impressively filmed by Potsy is the brutal elevator fight scene. The violent close quarters combat is exquisitely choreographed and shot, proving this director has some talent despite rest of the film, but one scene a quality movie does not make.
When he isn’t beating up unruly neighbors, Alan Ritchson occasionally acts, most notably as the titular character in “Reacher.” This is a physically imposing specimen, whose hulking musculature makes him an ideal action star. His strength has never been delivering lines with much conviction, so a role in which he doesn’t speak at all seems intentional and suitable. His constant menacing glares of rage promise violence but occasionally looks more like he suffers from a bout of constipation.
The other two main players in this music video are Shailene Woodley and Ben Foster. Woodley is another one who struggles with authentic line delivery, so not hearing her speak for most of the movie is a reprieve of sorts. She gives her best “Casino” Sharon Stone imitation but ultimately makes her character more of a one-dimensional cliché as a morally ambiguous woman being fought over by two men. Ben Foster has the most acting talent out of the bunch, and he does well coming across as the douchey villain.
Sure, the sound system may be rocking, but the ineffective starter, a battery that constantly loses its charge, and an engine with very little horsepower make this a lemon that entitles you to a full refund. It’s best to avoid taking a trip to “Motor City,” unless you enjoy experiencing the desire to walk out of movies 30 minutes into them.
This movie earns:
