SUMMARY

Alan Ritchson to star in Motor City, a revenge flick set in Detroit.
Ritchson’s character in Motor City sounds like a darker, more broken character than Jack Reacher.
Motor City must avoid falling into the John Wick clone trap and establish its unique identity.

Alan Ritchson’s next role sounds a lot more like John Wick than his current role in Reacher. With filming on season 3 of Reacher coming to a close, the actor is now set to shift gears to star in the upcoming film Motor City. Co-starring Shailene Woodley, Ben Foster, and Pablo Schreiber, Motor City is a period-piece revenge flick set in Detroit that sees Alan Ritchson going through a huge physical transformation to play the wrongfully convicted John Miller.

The film will likely demand a far different performance from the confidence he brings to Reacher, which is an exciting prospect for Alan Ritchson amidst his recent career hot-streak. However, there’s a chance the film will fall prey to comparisons to other films that seem to follow the same general action archetype. Even as Motor City seems to be closer to John Wick instead of Ritchson’s role as Jack Reacher, it’s important that the upcoming film does its best to escape the long shadow that Wick has cast upon the genre.

Alan Ritchson’s Motor City Character Sounds More Like John Wick Than Jack Reacher

Motor City Sounds Like A Revenge Flick In The Vein Of John Wick

Alan Richson’s upcoming film Motor City seems to give the actor his own answer to John Wick. The film follows Richson’s John, an innocent mechanic in Detroit who is framed by a local gang — which results in a lengthy prison sentence and the love of his life in the process. When he finally gets out of prison, John decides to take vengeance on the criminals that wronged him. As opposed to the ultra-confident and competent Jack Reacher, John sounds like a ratty, broken character.

There’s even the apparent loss of a woman in his life to propel him forward on a path that inevitably leads to bloodshed, giving it another thematic John Wick similarity. The film has tapped director Timur Bekmambetov to helm the project, whose previous films like Wanted and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter speak. Taken along with statements reported on by Variety about the film being “characterized by immersive visual storytelling, with stunningly choreographed and stylized action sequences,” the film seems designed to follow in John Wick’s footsteps.

Motor City’s Reacher Differences Make Alan Ritchson’s Movie More Exciting

Motor City Sets Up An Inherently Darker Character Than Reacher

On the one hand, it’s exciting to see Alan Ritchson expanding his character scope. Alan Ritchson has appeared in plenty of shows and films, but gained a new level of notoriety when he took on the title role in Prime Video’s Reacher. It’s an intimidating and intense performance that benefits the show’s action. However, it’s exciting to see him still flexing those creative muscles and not just repeating his other successes. Motor City‘s description implies a darker character, with set photos of Ritchson that have been reported on by Screen Rant confirming a very different look from Reacher..

Ritchson’s John sounds like an exciting chance for the actor to explore a more bitter, desperate character. The hyper-competent Reacher has slowly been peeled back in Reacher, but the challenges faced by John in Motor City should give Ritchson a more grounded approach to action and with a more complex character to play.

The more mundane origins of John invites a more grounded approach to action, as the former mechanic will likely be less inherently capable as Reacher. It also invites more natural tension into the action, which could help give Motor City a more compelling edge.

Motor City Must Avoid Falling Into The John Wick Clone Trap

Motor City Needs To Escape The Shadow Of The John Wick Franchise

However, there’s also an inherent danger to making Motor City so much like John Wick that it fails to have its own identity. Since the initial success of John Wick in 2014, the series has influenced the general arc of action-cinema.

There have been several films that have attempted to replicate the stylish visuals, heavily choreographed stunt work, and general beats of the John Wick films. Some of these films have enough unique elements and specific themes to stand out in a crowded field, like Monkey Man, Boy Kills World or Atomic Blonde.

However, the general tenor of action movies since John Wick came onto the scene has felt consistent and even repetitive. Motor City has to avoid those similar trappings and carve out a unique approach to the genre to keep from feeling like another John Wick clone.

Leaning into the brutal edge of the action could help, utilizing the impressive brutality that Ritchson has believably deployed elsewhere. Having a complex approach to the stock “revenge story” archetypes could elevate Motor City, give Ritchson and the rest of the cast more to grasp onto.