Alan Ritchson’s Gritty New R-Rated Revenge Thriller Sets Major Release In 2 Weeks

Alan Ritchson's R-rated thriller is gearing up for a new release.

Ritchson is now best known for playing the title character in Prime Video's Reacher, which is based on the books by author Lee Child. Ritchson returns as the charismatic hero in Reacher season 4 this month, but he has also become an increasingly big presence in movies outside the hit Prime Video show. The actor recently headlined Netflix's War Machine (2026), which was a major viewership success, and he also appeared in Fast X (2023), The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024), and Playdate (2025). This year also saw the release of another violent Ritchson movie.

Following its theatrical release on July 24, Motor City is now confirmed to arrive on digital on August 25. The film, which hails from director Potsy Ponciroli, will be available to rent and purchase on all major digital retailers, including Apple TV, Prime Video, and Fandango at Home.

Written by Chad St. John, Motor City could be Ritchson's most gritty movie yet. The Reacher star takes on the role of John Miller in the movie, a man who sets out for revenge after being framed and sent to prison for falling in love with a local crime lord's girlfriend.

Motor City is almost a dialogue-free experience, with 1970s Detroit serving as the backdrop for the story. Also starring Ben Foster, Shailene Woodley, Lionel Boyce, and Pablo Schreiber, the movie is filled with brutal R-rated action sequences.

Despite some unique storytelling approaches and plenty of stylization, Motor City was only a lukewarm success with critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 62% critics' score, with praise aimed at the soundtrack, action, and visual style, even if the lack of dialogue does occasionally work to the movie's detriment.

ScreenRant's own Motor City review by Alex Harrison was more negative at a score of only four out of 10. Harrison praises the "grounded and brutal" fight sequences but takes issue with the script and performances, as well as the choice to go dialogue-free. He writes:

The film is disappointingly light on characterization, something the lack of dialogue only exacerbates. That needn't have been the case. Everyone only really does what we expect of their type, so their actions as scripted don't reveal character so much as serve their plot function, and the performances are oddly bland. I don't know exactly how to say it other than almost no one is really doing any "silent acting."

Motor City's upcoming digital debut follows a poor showing at the box office. In its limited release, the Ritchson movie grossed only about $2.8 million against a budget estimated to be around $30 million.

For Ritchson, Motor City arrives on digital in the midst of a busy year. In addition to his return in Reacher season 4, he is confirmed to appear in the upcoming Neagley spinoff series. On the movie front, Ritchson will appear in Runner, another action thriller, Groove Tails, an animated film, and The Man with the Bag, a Christmas movie. All three arrive in the back half of this year.

It remains to be seen how Motor City will fare on digital, but the film has the potential to find more of an audience on home viewing platforms than it did in theaters. Though Ritchson hasn't had a ton of success as a leading man in theatrical ventures, he is increasingly becoming a go-to star on streaming and VOD.