Alan Ritchson's Next Movie Is Perfect For Jack Reacher Fans

With three seasons under its belt, "Reacher" has become a reliable hit for Prime Video. That's due in no small part to Alan Ritchson's performance as Jack Reacher, investigating crimes and getting into quite a few fights along the way. Ritchson's wrecked his body to bring the character to life, a testament to the kind of performer he is. And if you enjoy that show, there's a movie coming out in the near future you should watch out for. 

"Motor City" was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival shortly after its global premiere in Venice. It doesn't have distribution yet but its classic revenge story should be an easy sell. John Miller (Ritchson) falls in love with a gangster's girlfriend, Sophia (Shailene Woodley), so said gangster then frames him for a crime he didn't commit. When Miller gets out of prison, he sets out to get the girl and enact vengeance against those who wronged him. But the real selling point is that "Motor City" is practically a silent movie, with co-star Ben Foster telling Collider that there are only "five lines of dialogue" spoken in the film. The story's set in 1970s Detroit and is reportedly told primarily through music, sound, and highly kinetic action sequences. 

As such, "Motor City" sounds like the perfect film for fans of "Reacher" to watch. Jack Reacher isn't particularly known for long-winded monologues. In fact, Ritchson channeled Kevin Costner's stoicism in "Waterworld" when he auditioned for "Reacher." He lets his muscles do the talking, and "Motor City" geared exactly toward that.

Dialogue in film has been commonplace since the rise of "talkies" in the late 1920s, but it sounds like audiences will need to pay attention to "Motor City" to understand characters' motivations without any long exposition dumps. Alan Ritchson was more than up for the challenge, as he told Variety, about figuring out the best way to capture Miller's internal turmoil. "I think the temptation is to lash out in a physical way," Ritchson explained. "But I think a composure, where we're trying to keep the lid on, that is more interesting. For me, this film was more about the duel between the stillness in the internal rage and that wanting to percolate outwards."

"Motor City" has received decent reviews so far. It currently stands at a 73% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 15 reviews counted from its festival appearances. They all seem to agree that Ritchson absolutely delivers in his near-silent performance, with FandomWire offered this praise: "I thought we saw an emotional level to his acting with just the use of facial expressions and pure emotion that we had yet to see from him. This is Ritchson's best acting performance to date."

While Season 4 of "Reacher" is in the works, "Motor City" sounds like the perfect way to tide fans over (assuming it attains distribution and gets released before "Reacher" returns). And if it's a hit, it may be just the thing to convince the powers that be to make Ritchson the new Batman.