‘Motor City’ Rotten Tomatoes Reviews Mostly Favor Alan Ritchson Revenge Thriller

Alan Ritchson in "Motor City."

Independent Film Company

Reacher star Alan Ritchson’s new revenge thriller Motor City is revving up some positive reviews from Rotten Tomatoes critics.

Rated R, Motor City plays in preview screenings on Thursday before opening in theaters on Friday. In Motor City, which is set in Detroit in the 1970s, Ritchson stars as John Miller, a working-class local who is framed by a powerful gangster and sent to prison after he falls in love with the criminal’s girlfriend. When Miller is released from years of lock-up, he seeks revenge on the man who put him there.

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Directed by Potsy Ponciroli, Motor City also stars Ben Foster, Pablo Schreiber, Lionel Boyce, Amar Chadha-Patel, Ben McKenzie and Shailene Woodley.

As of Wednesday, Motor City has earned a 75% “fresh” critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer based on 35 reviews. RT’s Critics Consensus, Audience Summary and Popcornmeter score based on verified user ratings are still pending.

What Are Individual Critics Saying About ‘Motor City’?

Owen Gleiberman of Variety is among the top critics on RT who gives the film a “fresh” rating on RT, writing, “Motor City, as its best, qualifies as a true immersive cinematic experience. It’s a movie almost entirely without words, but it speaks.”

The Wrap’s Steve Pond also praises Motor City, writing in his “fresh” review summary on RT, “It shouldn’t work but it pretty much does, at least for those who are big enough pulp fans to go along with this wacky thrill ride.”

Anzhe Zhang of Slant Magazine commends the film’s retro-style approach in his “fresh” RT review summary, writing, “Potsy Ponciroli’s Motor City feels like a lost B-movie from a bygone era, channeling the spirit of the vigilante films and other exploitation genres of the 1970s.”

David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter is among the top critics on RT who gives Motor City a “rotten” score. Rooney writes in his RT review summary, “A glowering Alan Ritchson brings gravitas by virtue of his hulking physical presence alone, but Shailene Woodley, Ben Foster and Pablo Schreiber are stuck playing characters too familiar to pack much heat.”

Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com isn’t a fan of Motor City, either, writing in his “rotten” RT review summary, “Sadly, there’s not quite enough movie under the gimmick, and Ponciroli can’t maintain the directorial grip of a Woo, vacillating between a broad action style and self-serious blocking that makes it feel as if Bergman made a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie.”

The Daily Beast critic Nick Schager also gives Motor City a “rotten” score, writing on RT, “Aside from a couple of vicious set pieces, however, this genre effort’s gimmickry results in derivative cornball melodrama. It would have benefited greatly from speaking louder while carrying a big stick.”

Motor City plays in Thursday previews before opening in theaters nationwide on Friday.