There are plenty of revenge movies where a man gets betrayed, goes to prison, comes out angry, and spends the rest of the film beating up everyone responsible. You probably think you know exactly what Motor City is going to be. Directed by Potsy Ponciroli and starring Alan Ritchson, Motor City is a 1970s Detroit revenge thriller that takes a surprisingly unusual approach to storytelling. It follows John Miller, a working-class man and Vietnam veteran whose life is destroyed after he falls for the girlfriend of a local gangster. He's framed for a crime, sent to prison, and eventually comes back with revenge on his mind.

What makes Motor City interesting is how little it relies on dialogue to tell it. The film is almost entirely dialogue-free, using music, sound, facial expressions, movement and violence to communicate what its characters are feeling. That's a risky decision for a modern action movie, especially one built around a fairly straightforward revenge story. But honestly, that's also the reason people are talking about it. And depending on the kind of movie you enjoy, Motor City could either be a refreshing change or 103 minutes of wondering when somebody is finally going to say something. The biggest reason Motor City had people's attention before release was Alan Ritchson. After becoming widely known as Jack Reacher in Amazon's Reacher, Ritchson has established himself as a believable action star. He's physically imposing, but he also has enough screen presence to carry a movie. Here, though, he has a very different challenge. He can't rely on long speeches or clever dialogue to explain John Miller. Most of the character has to come through his face and body language. John isn't supposed to be a complicated philosopher. He's a man whose life has been destroyed. You can see the anger building inside him without needing someone to explain it to you. Ritchson's physical presence becomes part of the storytelling. When John is walking through Detroit, fighting someone or simply staring at a person who has wronged him, the movie allows the image to do the work. That makes his performance particularly interesting because it proves he doesn't necessarily need a lot of dialogue to command the screen. And Motor City isn't relying on Ritchson alone. The cast also includes Shailene Woodley as Sophia, Ben Foster as Reynolds and Pablo Schreiber as Lieutenant Savick.

Another thing that makes Motor City stand out is its setting. The story takes place in Detroit in 1977, giving the filmmakers an opportunity to create a gritty period atmosphere rather than placing the story in modern-day America. That also works particularly well with the revenge-story formula. There's something about a 1970s crime thriller where a man gets out of prison and goes hunting for the people who destroyed his life that just feels right. It's old-fashioned in the best possible way. The movie received a much warmer critical response than its relatively modest commercial performance might suggest. Metacritic currently lists the film at 63, with 67% of its listed critic reviews positive and 33% mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes, audience reviews include people praising the film for telling a story in a way they haven't seen before, while others describe it as boring or complain about the slow pacing.

Motor City had Alan Ritchson, a recognisable supporting cast, a revenge story and plenty of action. Yet its theatrical performance was modest, with Rotten Tomatoes listing a U.S. box office gross of about $2.7 million+. The marketing challenge is obvious. How do you sell a movie that looks like a conventional action thriller but behaves nothing like one? People see Alan Ritchson and expect something similar to Reacher. They might expect a fast-moving action movie with plenty of dialogue and a straightforward hero. Instead, they get something much more experimental. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it makes the film harder to market to a mainstream audience. The movie eventually became available for streaming and digital rental, giving it another opportunity to find the audience that may have missed it in cinemas. Recent streaming coverage has highlighted Motor City as one of the newer action thrillers available to watch at home.

Is Motor City actually worth watching? Don't watch it expecting another Reacher, that's probably the worst possible way to approach this movie. Instead, think of Motor City as a revenge story stripped down to its most visual elements. It's about a man who has been betrayed, imprisoned and robbed of his life. Rather than having him constantly explain his feelings, the movie lets us watch what happens when that anger finally comes out. Motor City is a strange little movie. It's violent, stylish, deliberately sparse and much more experimental than its revenge movie premise suggests. Alan Ritchson gets the opportunity to show that he can carry a movie without constantly talking, while the 1970s Detroit setting gives the story a gritty identity. Its biggest strength is also its biggest weakness: the lack of dialogue. For some viewers, it's going to make the movie feel fresh and immersive. For others, it's going to make the story feel slow and emotionally distant. I give the movie a 6/10.

MOTOR CITY IS NOW STREAMING.