#TIFF25: “MOTOR CITY” Review

By David Baldwin

Detroit, 1977. Blue collar ex-con John Miller (Alan Ritchson, sporting a ridiculous blonde wig for far too long) is in love with Sophia (Shailene Woodley). Unfortunately for him, she is the ex-girlfriend of local gangster Reynolds (Ben Foster), who has John framed and thrown back into jail for drug possession. 

That is the set-up for MOTOR CITY and you can guess (minus a few twists and a bogus ending) where it goes from here. Not content to just be a stereotypical period action thriller, Director Potsy Ponciroli alongside Writer Chad St. John strip away the majority of the dialogue – leaving the film to glide by on body language, aesthetic, music and a gratuitous amount of slow motion. It makes for a frustratingly uneven viewing experiment that does not always work but somehow manages to always be interesting. 

Beyond wishing Woodley had more to do beyond being the fridged damsel in distress (who somehow gets the most dialogue out of the approximately 78 words spoken over the course of the entire film) and that anyone could match or surpass Foster’s brilliantly expressive performance, MOTOR CITY deserves high praise for its nasty third act elevator brawl between Ritchson and dirty cop Savick (Pablo Schreiber). The claustrophobic fight choreography is stunning and the way these two actors throw their bodies around easily make this brutally violent fight scene one of the most memorable of the festival.

MOTOR CITY screens at TIFF ‘25:

Thurs. Sept 4 at 8:45 PM at TIFF Lightbox

Fri. Sept 5 at 2:15 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto