Alan Ritchson's New Unusually Silent 'Motor City' Movie Described as 'John Wick Meets Reacher'
The new Alan Ritchson movie, Motor City, which will be released in July, is different from many movies because it's almost silent, when it comes to dialogue anyway.
According to Paste Magazine, which weighed in after the movie premiered at the Venice Film Festival, "the entirety of Motor City has only four or five lines of clear dialogue in it." That critic didn't fully like it, calling the movie "overwrought and self-satisfied."
However, many movie fans - especially those who have followed Ritchson's career in Amazon Prime's Reacher, or who are fans of the John Wick franchise - are looking forward to the Ritchson-led revenge thriller.
Movie critics who are anticipating the big new release think it will resemble a cross between two major characters: Jack Reacher (played by Ritchson) and John Wick, the ultra-violent revenge character made famous by Keanu Reeves. According to The Detroit News, Motor City, which is described as a "Detroit-set action thriller," will be in theaters on July 24, 2026.
After seeing the trailer,MovieWeb declared that the new movie is "John Wick Meets Reacher."
Both 'John Wick' & 'Motor City' Use Dialogue Sparingly
The John Wick movies and Motor City share something in common: A lack of dialogue. According to Decider, Motor City's co-star Ben Foster has called the movie "virtually silent."
The trailer contains music, but no dialogue as it shows Ritchson and his fiancee breaking up, and Ritchson's character shaving his head and getting revenge on drug dealers in a retro setting.
According to MovieWeb, Ritchson "leads a star-studded cast that includes Shailene Woodley, Ben Foster, Pablo Schreiber, and Ben McKenzie in a movie that is almost experimental despite featuring many familiar action tropes."
Ritchson stars as John Miller, "an ex-con who embarks on a quest for revenge after he's framed by a local crime boss in 1970s Detroit," MovieWeb reported, adding that, like John Wick, it's a "vengeance thriller." In addition, according to MovieWeb, John Wick also kept the dialogue to a minimum, while focusing on action scenes.
The Books That the 'Reacher' Series Was Based on Imagined Jack Reacher as a Man Who Rarely Uses Words
Obviously, Motor City resembles Reacher by putting Ritchson in the titular role of a violent protagonist who is trying to defeat bad guys who are conspiring against him.
In addition, according to Decider, in the novels that Reacher is based on, the character is often silent while others are talking, and this point is made clearly by the author.
According to Decider, the plot of Motor City revolves around "a working-class man whose life is completely derailed after he's framed for a drug crime and sent to prison." He even lost his fiancée Sophia, who is played by Shailene Woodley.
The "mood, the performances, and the violence tell the story," Decider wrote.
Despite the criticisms, the Paste Magazine critic did find things to like about Motor City, writing, "With all that said, the actual action of Motor City, once it begins to really arrive in earnest in its third act, is so wildly fun, stylized and gratuitous that it almost becomes worth the price of admission." The stylized action is also reminiscent of John Wick.
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 28, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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This story was originally published June 28, 2026 at 9:49 AM.