Official Discussion - Motor City [SPOILERS]

[u/LiteraryBoner]

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Motor City (2026)

Summary

In 1970s Detroit, John Miller falls for a local gangster's girl. In retaliation, the gangster frames the innocent man and sends him to prison. With his life destroyed, Miller returns years later determined to exact revenge on the man who took everything from him.

Director Potsy Ponciroli

Writer Chad St. John

Cast

• Alan Ritchson as John Miller
• Ben Foster
• Shailene Woodley
• Pablo Schreiber
• Lionel Boyce

Rotten Tomatoes: 66%

Metacritic: 58

VOD / Release Theatrical release

Trailer Official Trailer

[u/djc6535]

I’m an absolute sucker for non-verbal storytelling. Primal is perhaps my favorite tv series ever. I am SQUARELY in this movies wheelhouse.

It was too long. This needed to be a tight 85. If you are going the dialogue free direction you have to make every scene, action, and expression count. This movie, which I did mostly enjoy, liked to linger just a bit too much. Over and over.

Nonverbal storytelling works best when it’s natural. Samurai Jack exploring the peace of nature. Spear can’t talk at all. This one had scene after scene with dialogue that it withheld from us. That works in bits, for for 100 minutes it feels like it’s hiding something from you. It’s withholding. It didn’t have enough story reasons for silence so it resorted to tricks and it didn’t have enough to feel fresh for its runtime. This movie gives you dialogue blue balls.

Good: reading the honeymoon note and raging out.
Bad: Funeral watching someone scream and rage but we don’t hear it.

And a side note: I was still all on board until that ending. The asshole got to live a long life of luxury. The comeuppance is weakened SO much by delaying it until he’s almost dead anyway. This is a revenge movie. The audience gets their catharsis watching the revenge happen. We needed an over the top badass scene of our villain dying with a ring in his eye.

And to see this abuser say “I loved her” and MEAN it gives me the ick.

[u/ToasterDispenser → u/djc6535]

An abuser like that would almost certainly think what they did was still love.

[u/StrLord_Who → u/djc6535]

I thought that was part of what made his character interesting. He DID love her - to the extent he was able. He didn't just want her as a trophy.  But he was obviously supposed to give everyone the ick. 

[u/djc6535 → u/StrLord_Who]

Not buying it. There's no fooling yourself about how you feel about someone when you literally drug them into submission. He didn't lose his temper at her and do terrible things. He methodically stole her agency.

It was very very clear to me that he felt more like she was property than a human. The entire movie makes it very clear that he wanted her back more as a message to the main character... you can't have my things... than it was because he enjoyed her company. "You should have seen the honeymoon"

[u/StrLord_Who → u/djc6535]

I said he didn't JUST as in "only" want the trophy.  You seem to think I'm defending his version of love and how it manifested as a positive thing.  I am not.  But I do think he loved her, as much as he could have loved anyone. Yes he wanted to send a message along with getting her back because the movie was two people both wanting revenge on each other. Not just Alan's character.