The retro crime movie “Motor City” tells its story with almost no dialogue, other than occasional utterances — “hi,” “I love you,” a couple of profanity-laced phrases unfit for these pages. Churls might complain that John Woo just used that conceit in “Silent Night” (2023). The more open-minded might recall that cinema had three spellbinding decades before talkies. It’s high time for a revival.
The director is Potsy Ponciroli, working from a screenplay by Chad St. John; the bulked-up protagonist would be a man of few words in any script. No sooner has the ex-con John Miller (Alan Ritchson) proposed to his girlfriend, Sophia (Shailene Woodley), than the police toss smoke bombs into their home. Miller has been set up in a cocaine bust by a high-rolling criminal, Reynolds (Ben Foster, in sleazy eyewear), and a corrupt cop, Savick (Pablo Schreiber). Miller gets 25 years in prison; Reynolds marries Sophia.
Ponciroli has fun telling this story visually, as when he dissolves from Sophia and Reynolds enjoying a post-wedding dance to Miller doing push-ups and plotting payback. The film shows a sense of humor about its gimmick, which only sometimes feels forced. Savick cheekily makes a “shh” gesture to Miller; an interrogation room tape recorder obviously isn’t going to record anything.
But the action and the gore (including an unexpected severed limb) seem almost gleefully cruel, and an unnecessary coda is failed by bad makeup. Also, if you’re going to use soundtrack selections (Donna Summer, Fleetwood Mac) to advance your narrative verbally, it is gauche to put a 1982 song, David Bowie’s “Cat People (Putting Out Fire),” over a title card that reads “1977 Detroit.” Like Ponciroli’s throwback western, “Old Henry” (2021), “Motor City” is more a film to respect than to see (or hear).
Motor City Rated R. Merciless violence; some sex and drugs. Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes. In theaters.
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