Silence can be Violent
Directed by Potsy Ponciroli
Starring Alan Ritchson, Shailene Woodley, Ben Foster
Released July 24th, 2026
Rated R
Sophia (Shailene Woodley) is a waitress who wants the good life. Reynolds (Ben Foster) is the criminal who is able to give her the leopard print excess she desires. Savick (Pablo Schreiber) is the crooked cop who is benefitting from Reynold’s illicit drug running. John (Alan Ritchson) is the random do-gooder who crosses paths with these ne’er-do wells and finds himself set up to take a fall for them. Though John loves Sophia, she stays in a relationship with Reynolds while John is serving the lenghty prison sentence that Savick and Reynolds thrust upon him. While good cop Kent (Ben McKenzie) begins to smell something fishy, John isn’t waiting for his sentence to end and begins to plan his escape – and revenge – with help from his war buddies Youngblood (Lionel Boyce) and Singh (Amar Chadha-Patel).
Written by Chat St. John (screenwriter of Peppermint) and directed by Potsy Ponciroli, Motor City is basically a silent film, with only a few lines of dialogue spread out across its runtime. The plot and motivations of its characters are communicated visually, with the written word only used a few times (like a message written on the back of a photograph or on the front of a newspaper). The emotional state of the persons we’re following is conveyed through many slow motion pans and zooms while a pop music soundtrack blares. This lends the film a hypnotic quality, though at times it can also bring to mind a similar visual aesthetic we’ve gotten used to seeing in various A.I. slop on the internet.
The soundtrack is a strong mix of late 1970s and early 1980s pop, rock, and disco, including songs from Fleetwood Mac, Bill Withers, The Moody Blues, David Bowie, Sniff ‘n’ the Tears, Donna Summer, and many more artists your parents jammed out to in their youth. Given that the film is set in Detroit, you may expect to hear songs from Iggy Pop, Eminem, or other Michiganders, but the only one I clocked was the end credits stomp of Archbishop Harold Holmes from Jack White’s excellent album No Name. White is one of the producers of the film, curated the soundtrack, and has a cameo as a piano player. I guess we owe him a collective thanks for not putting Ted Nugent on the soundtrack. As the film goes on it leans more on the electronic score from Steve Jablonsky rather than needle drops. Jablonsky’s score is not bad, but it does not fit the film’s late 1970s vibe as much as a track from The Doobie Brothers or Player would have.
Alan Ritchson cuts an imposing figure. You never doubt his steely commitment to exacting what he would consider to be justice. Shailene Woodley manages to make Sophia a pretty complex character. It’s tough to know exactly how she found herself in this situation and with whom her loyalties lie. Ben Foster brings drug kingpin Reynolds to life in mesmerizing fashion. He’s created one of the sleaziest characters to ever grace the big screen. That’s a compliment! The film’s standout sequence is a fight scene between Ritchson and Schreiber set in an elevator. The claustrophobic setting only adds to the tension as desperate punches land and jetting knives cut skin. It’s ultra violent and bloody, and concludes on a surprising humorous note. The movie’s final scene involves a decades-forward time jump (complete with doggy makeup) that probably would have worked better had it been placed mid or post credits. It’s easy to roll your eyes at some of the choices that Motor City makes, but the inventive way in which the story is told goes a long way in making this revenge thriller feel like more than just a retread.
