Weekend Pick or Pass: Motor City (2026) on Moviebox

Off the beaten path? Consider Motor City. Potsy Ponciroli has captured the swagger of a 70's muscle car with this film. Forget convention, this one's less talk more stare. An exercise in the use of silence, pregnant pauses and when to drop the needle. It’s a story told almost exclusively without dialogue. Expect a long ride at times but this story, much like a classic car, will ultimately prove memorable.

From the 1970s Detroit native scenes, you know Motor City isn’t going to spoon feed you. Alan Ritchson as John Miller gets a rude introduction to both a gangster’s lover and prison, and in the process sees his future stolen. Miller takes revenge on the man who ruined his life. It's a great set-up for an action revenge thriller, but what makes this unique is the outstanding cast led by Ritchson, Ben Foster and Shailene Woodley, and the near zero dialogue. It is really more of a stylistic choice, but it is actually crucial to the plot. Essentially, to move the story, the actors replace dialogue. It’s a daring way to tell a story, but it captivates your attention in a different way, and you actually have to be a participant in the story instead of watching a typical narrative. It’s a unique and bold way to tell a story if you are a fan of cinema that trusts you to come to your own conclusion This choice, throws out the book on conventional action movies, by really letting the images tell the story. The detail of the time period really is immaculate, and puts you in the era of beautiful 70s downtown Detroit, with old fashioned bars and the fashions of the time.

And the soundtrack! With so many great songs from the 70's, it doesn't just set the scene for the action, it drives the action as the emotional glue and the propellant. It's a perfect list for taking a road trip, even if that road trip is just to the end of your couch.

The Silent Roar: Visuals, Vengeance, and Valleys

Motor City uses bold visual techniques and a great soundtrack, but its intentional use of no dialogue has its issues. It's one of those movies you can't really zone out with. It needs you to be engaged enough to draw conclusions and pay attention to the minute details., Otherwise, you miss a lot. But when it works in this movie, it shows us why Miller is on this quest and why his actions and his purpose are perfectly aligned; you see the reason behind it all. You can see his rage and you can see his purpose. You can even feel his pain. There's a reason this movie is rated R; the violence, while not that frequent, is definitely not glamorous. This movie is a mood. The use of no dialogue makes cast members a lot more active and collaborative, but most of them stay present and emotional instead of verbal. Ben Foster really embodies this approach the best, and he was the best choice for this movie.

While I wouldn't call the 1 hour and 44 minute runtime of the film excessive, occasionally I would say it feels rather lengthy. With no dialogue scenes to rely on, pacing can suffer and sections of the film can feel as if it's idling with no sense of kinetic energy. That said, this film is not a complete “run out of gas” situation, but the framing of the plot and stripped verbiage can feel a tad under-populated. One of the largest shared critiques of the film was that “the deliberate lack of dialogue occasionally backfires in a story that winds up running on fumes.“ With thin plot lines, it's easy to see why this film was a tightrope walk; an impressive achievement to most of its audience members who scored it a 6.9. This holds true with most audience members who appreciated the bold experiment in filmmaking. I'd say this film's lacking plot lines are not due to execution, but more due to art. The experimental nature of this film is deeply impressive to many audience members, while drawing a strong disconnect with many of its remaining audience members. Overall this film's art directive with its lack of plot was quite impressive, and while some audience members were left drawing more plot connections to enjoy this 6.9 film, many audience members found this bold cinematic choice refreshing.

Where does Motor City fit with your Moviebox weekend? Well, it’s a perfect choice for Friday night if you’re looking for something different and thought provoking, especially for a film with an incredible soundtrack and visually stimulating aesthetic. It does require your full engagement. This is not a film to leave on in the background. It requires you to engage in the narrative and place yourself in the film to absorb the mood and translate for your viewing audience the film’s language. Let’s just say, if pure cinema is your cup of tea, Motor City is well worth a watch (again, it requires some concentration). While some filmmakers shamelessly promote their work, lack creativity, and are not particularly talented, Brock Christopher has no problem checking all the boxes for audacious filmmaking, and it shows in his debut feature Motor City. It may have the occasional minor lull, but it is still worth a watch.