by Samuel Nichols, Contributing Writer
Sometimes movies take extreme artistic license with how they tell a story. Alejandro Iñárritu’s Birdman is basically one shot for its entire run time. Tom Hooper had the entire cast of Les Misérables sing live on the set. Chrisopher Nolan’s Tenet runs backwards through time like a tape in a VCR. If done right, these choices can add to the artistic merit of a film but if done poorly, it reminds you more of an exercise and it can jeopardize the quality of the movie.
After he’s framed for a big drug bust, John (Alan Ritchson) is sentenced to 20 years in prison, leaving behind his fiancé Sophia (Shailene Woodley). John has nothing left to live for, but when he gets word that Sophia has gone back to her ex-boyfriend Reynolds (Ben Foster), the very same dealer who set John up, he cannot stand for that. In an effort to save and protect her, he will go on a rampaging journey to get back to her and get his revenge on Reynolds.
Now, I made all of that fuss about director’s choosing to use gimmicks for their movies, so now is a good time to tell you Motor City’s. Director Potsy Ponciroli and writer Chad St. John have put hardly put any dialogue in this movie. Coming in at a 100-minutes, there is probably less than a dozen lines of dialogue in all. I can respect the choice to allow facial expressions to be the way to tell a story, not once did it feel incomprehensible. Props to Ponciroli and St. John for getting the most out of their actors too. Particularly Ritchson, someone I would mostly consider an action or comedy actor, who does excellent work with his facial expressions.
But the writing loses me with its portrayal of the “love triangle.” Sophia’s returning to Reynolds strikes me as a decision to use a female character as motivation rather than an actual person. The idea of someone going back to an ex isn’t unbelievable, but there’s no reason given for this. When Sophie and Reynolds do share the screen it’s almost as if he considers her property and she takes no issue with that. Only marginally better is John’s obsession with saving her. Not once do we see Sophie and John share a meaningful moment. Their relationship being good is just an assumption that the script asks the viewer to make. Yes, John is getting her away from an awful and abusive person, but there is no connection shown between them. Saving Sophia from Reynolds is the right thing to do, and that seems to equate to romance in John’s mind. If you aren’t picking up what I’m putting down, this movie would fail the Bechdel test.
And I’ll die on the hill that Shailene Woodley could have been on Jennifer Lawrence’s level. It feels like she often gets the leftovers of good parts between whatever Lawrence, Emma Stone, and Brie Larson don’t want. Good enough to live off, but perhaps not achieve the highest levels of success.
Action wise, the movie is serviceable in that the fights keep you interested. Yet it’s not on par with the modern greats like John Wick. It’s not even as good as Masters of the Universe from this year, for that matter. But it’s not the worst technical issue we have on our hands. The score and soundtrack choices are completely unmemorable. What I do remember is the dull cinematography. We seem to have pulled straight from Zack Snyder’s playbook with an overuse of slow motion and lots of darkness or muted colors. When you combine these with the lack of conversation, the movie can really drag at times. John sitting in jail, no conversation with any company, and every now and then a slow vision of Sophia. I’m glad I had my caffeine on Friday because I was fighting back a nap.
In all, it’s not an offensively bad movie and I can even respect the artistic decision to have no dialogue. But you need to compensate for it with a more interesting story or higher quality action. At a certain point during my showing, I had to ask myself if this was an exercise to reach mind numbing levels not yet seen before, because there is only so many times an actor can give a knowing look before the audience starts to check out.
Rating: Did Not Like It
Motor City is currently in theaters
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