Motor City

Motor City is a vibe. I do not know a better way to describe it than that. This reminded me of the famous story about Rambo: First Blood. Sylvester Stallone has said that the original version was overloaded with dialogue, and the movie was improved by cutting much of it and allowing the action and Stallone's performance to carry the story visually. I feel like somebody took that principle and decided to build an entire movie around it. Motor City goes out of its way not to let its characters speak. You get almost no real exposition. You simply see things happening to them. Alan Ritchson, the big hulking behemoth who plays Jack Reacher on television, plays John Miller, a working-class ex-con trying to walk the straight and narrow in 1970s Detroit. He falls in love with Sophia, played by Shailene Woodley, who was previously involved with Reynolds, a powerful drug dealer played by Ben Foster. John proposes to Sophia, she accepts, and almost immediately the police raid their home after finding a large quantity of drugs planted in the trunk of his car. Reynolds has used a corrupt police officer to frame John because John took Sophia away from him. John is sentenced to 25 years in prison. Reynolds then appears and throws Sophia's engagement ring at him, making it clear both that he arranged the frame-up and that Sophia is no longer waiting for him. Later, John learns that Reynolds and Sophia have married. He is devastated. He is abused by the guards in prison. His entire life falls apart, and you slowly watch him rebuild himself. Then the movie becomes a revenge flick. Ritchson turns out to be a man with a particular set of skills, and the rest of the movie sets him loose against the people who destroyed his life. That was all interesting, but the most interesting thing about Motor City is that there is almost no talking. They show you everything. To me, this movie almost feels like a direct response to a complaint I have made for years—to friends, family and anybody else who would listen—about movies giving us exposition instead of showing us what is happening. Do not tell me a character's motivations through a freaking monologue. Show me their motivations through how they act, perform and react to other characters. I want modern movies to get away from being so exposition-heavy. Film is a visual art form first and foremost. That is how it started. Movies could not talk when the industry began, so how did we get to a place where filmmakers do not want to show us anything and instead insist on telling us everything? They want to tell us who is a good guy, who is a bad guy or that a man loves a woman by having him repeatedly say that he loves her. You can actually show us those things. You do not have to tell us. I have complained about this quite a bit to anyone willing to listen, so it would be hypocritical for me to turn around and complain that Motor City trusts visual storytelling too much. They show you everything. If you do not understand it from what they show you, then you just do not understand it. That does not mean I think this is a great piece of filmmaking. It is not great like First Blood, although it is quite a bit like First Blood. It is simply a fairly tight piece of filmmaking. Everyone does a good job in their roles, and I do not have any real complaints about it. It is not a great movie, but it is pretty good. It is watchable and rewatchable, and I would see it again if I could talk some other people into going. I definitely recommend it, but know what you are walking into. This is a straightforward action movie. It gets bloody. There is not going to be much talking. You are simply going to get what you get. So whether you loved First Blood or hated First Blood, consider yourself warned.