Motor City

Grade: B-

Motor City was built as a movie with as little dialogue as possible. There are probably fewer than 20 words spoken, if that, throughout the entire film. That solves problems, and also creates some. The obvious advantage is it can play just like this anywhere in the world, and people will get it. Because it’s an action crime drama, we’re spared the usual clunky screenplay conventions of the genre. The story is told through visuals and the soundtrack. I don’t need to stream it on Spotify—I’ve already heard it. Most of the songs play all the way through.

On the other hand, we never stop feeling the slavish devotion to the mission of having little to no dialogue, no matter how forced or awkward it may get. A truly great execution of this idea would have had me forgetting that there was almost no speaking. Instead, I was always aware of the gimmick, and constantly wondering, “How will they pull it off this time?” with each new scene. There is a marriage proposal. A waitress at a diner approaches a booth to silently refill coffee. And believe it or not, there is a telephone “conversation.”

I appreciated that the crime drama was allowed to unfold without any weird verbal expository business. It’s a revenge story, set in Detroit in 1977. A man who has fallen for a local gangster’s girlfriend is framed in a drug crime and sent back to prison. The innocent (this time) man makes it his quest to escape and bring retribution. With no words, the actors are stripped of 50% of what they depend on for their craft. It’s on them to do all the heavy lifting with their physicality and facial expressions. The cinematography and needle-drops do a lot of work as well to paint the picture.

The movie never rises to the level it seeks to be aiming for. It always feels bogged down and painted into a corner, with each desperate attempt to have the characters not speak, even in situations where talking would naturally happen. However, Motor City works as well as it does because of the actors. Alan Ritchson (Ordinary Angels) is a believable action hero as the wrongfully imprisoned man. Ben Foster is slimy as the gangster. Shailene Woodley brings texture and freshness to what could have been a cliché. These are performers who play their intentions despite the movie’s trappings.

I am growing very tired of films with “in medias res” openings. That’s where a scene from the middle of the plot is shown to us in the beginning, before we jump back to find out how they arrived there. It’s problematic in Motor City because the best part of the climactic fight is spoiled right away. Saving it for its proper scene wouldn’t have diminished anything. I didn’t mind the lack of realism in this chase sequence. I could forgive that. My issue was realizing that what we already saw was the coolest part.

The revenge plot extends through the decades. These people have memories like elephants, and the makeup department obviously had a great time flexing their skills to show the passage of time in the final scene. You haven’t seen many movies like Motor City before, so as an experiment, I commend them for giving it a shot. I like this crew, and these actors. Now I’m looking forward to hearing them again.

Grade: B-