If there is a movement, some kind of cause that makes an impact on the world, chances are there will someday be a film made about it. Writer/director Jeff Nichols (“Midnight Special,” “Mud”) has looked to the past to create a film about such a movement, basing it around the motorcycle clubs of the 1960s and 70s, with “The Bikeriders.”
Starting in 1965, the film follows the creation and eventual downfall of the Vandals Motorcycle club, documented by photo-journalist Danny Lyons, played by Mike Faist (“West Side Story (2021),” “Challengers”), and focusing on the creation of the club by President Johnny Davis, played by Tom Hardy (“Venom,” “Mad Max: Fury Road”), and the romance between biker Benny Cross, played by Austin Butler (“Elvis,” “Dune Part Two”), and outsider Kathy Bauer, played by Jodie Comer (“Killing Eve,” “The Last Duel”), with an ensemble cast consisting of Michael Shannon (“Midnight Special,” “Revolutionary Road”), Boyd Holbrook (“Logan,” “The Sandman”), Norman Reedus (“The Walking Dead,” “The Boondock Saints”), among others.
There’s a casual, lowkey nature to the entire film that adds to the hangout vibes of the story being told. Much of it is recounted to Lyons by Bauer at various points of her life, and the events not only have a wistful, nostalgia twinge to them, but also stark reality to things. Comer herself lays her accent on thick and is fairly good at the role, maintaining a good line between narrator and character within the tale. Hardy and Butler really steal the show, with the former employing a fantastically implausible accent to portray his vision of subdued and suppressed masculinity and anger.
Meanwhile, Butler plays his role with an opposite kind of perspective, whereas Hardy fills his performance with grand displays of manly protection, Butler keeps things wound tight until the most opportune moments to let them unfurl. The rest of the ensemble cast is a delight, all embodying some fun, larger than life personas that fill out the film well. Faist is the only one who feels purely underutilized, instead wasting a strong actor on a role that feels like little more than a narrator who just happens to physically be there.
The musical score from David Wingo (“Midnight Special,” “Barry”) is absolutely beautiful and helps to build the setting alongside some shockingly gorgeous and underplayed cinematography from Adam Stone (“Loving,” “Midnight Special”) which come together to create a great and realized vision of the 60s and 70s biking movement. While there isn’t an overall story perse, the film does exist on an engaging thread of tales and misadventures of the characters themselves, telling the story through small moment-to-moment escapades.
Nichols zeroes in on the different kinds of masculinity and expressions of it therein to tell the arc of Hardy and Butler’s characters, and it quickly becomes apparent that this is where his interests lie the most. It is a very well realized and interesting story, but there is also a blaise feeling to it all that makes it hard to love. It's the sort of movie where nothing is objectively wrong or bad, but the elements don’t really come together to create a perfect film. Rather, they’re all good, just not great.
That might sound like damning with faint praise, but don’t mistake “The Bikeriders” for a movie not worth your time. It’s a rousing and nostalgic drama that feels like part period piece for the 60s and 70s and part hangout movie, that still finds time to deconstruct two very different types of masculinity within its club. Its two lead performances are terrific, and the ensemble cast is also great. It does meander a bit too much and might overall feel like less than the sum of its parts, but those individual parts are still wholly enjoyable. 4/5
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