The Bikeriders (2023) Review!!

Synopsis – It follows the rise of a Midwestern motorcycle club through the lives of its members.

My Take – With critically acclaimed films Shotgun Stories (2007), Take Shelter (2011), Mud (2012), Midnight Special (2016), and Loving (2016), filling up his filmography, indeed it has been long wait to see writer-director Jeff Nichols return to the screen.

A wait which was only made longer when its original distributor 20th Century removed the film from its schedule last year, allowing Focus Features to pick it up from its producer New Regency, pushing the release a whole year. Yet, that didn’t stop it from being one of the most anticipated releases in a year that way already chock-full of sequels and franchises.

In a surprising move, his latest sees him adopt old-school type of cinematic storytelling and create what can be appropriately deemed as something of a love child of filmmaker Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990), filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders (1983) and the acclaimed FX series, Sons of Anarchy (2008 –2014).

Inspired by Danny Lyon’s 1967 photo book of the same name and backed by Adam Stone’s gritty and gorgeous cinematography, the filmmaker’s welcome return revisits the outlaw appeal of the biker club culture, the machismo, the glinting chrome and the open road, something that has long held a seductive appeal for film-makers through decades.

As evident by its obvious The Wild One (1953) and Easy Rider (1969) influences here, as we follow a fictional group in the 60s and early 70s and explore their stories and personalities firsthand.

Yes, neither the approach nor the plot may be all that novel, but it works as a real crowd-pleaser, mainly as director Nichols peppers the narrative with a slew of exciting sequences.

Sure, it isn’t the best film of the year, but it’s a good one and stands out by feeling like the kind of dramas they don’t make anymore. Hence, if you’re are looking for a film that feels like it was made in a different time, then this might be the one for you.

Set in and around about a 10 year period from 1963 till 1973, the story follows the lives and times of The Vandals, a mid-western motorcycle club, founded by Johnny Davis (Tom Hardy), a family man with a stable job, who ended up creating the club after seeing Marlon Brando in The Wild One, and despite being the one everyone else looks to for guidance, he’s never fully comfortable in that role.

Told through the memories of Kathy (Jodie Comer) as she is interviewed by Danny Lyon (Mike Faist), and reminisces about how she met and married Benny Cross (Austin Butler), an early joiner and wild card who loves riding and becomes Tom’s best friend and right hand man. As the gang grows, they face challenges within their dynamic. Meanwhile, as troops return from Vietnam, a new dynamic begins to impact their culture.

Told non-linearly, the film focuses on multiple characters and plot lines, peppering the narrative with edgy sequences, including a fight between Johnny and a man twice his size and a scene where Benny’s foot is almost decapitated.

While the actual plot is a little thin, this is a thrillingly evocative piece of film-making as it is a magnetic exploration of loyalty, violence, and the burden of leadership. The narrative is also imbued with poignant lyricism, thanks to an appropriate period enhancing musical score and the broodingly opaque central love triangle.

The film is driven less by any single narrative and more by its stellar cast of characters. Despite their hardened appearances, these men are really just lost boys, both social outcasts and army rejects, who are longing for the solidity of a stable community, but are alienated by the ordering principles of the ordinary American life, and now have worked to create their own rules-based order.

Amazingly, writer-director Jeff Nichols never glorifies the outlaw life, but nor does it seek to vilify the original vision of the gang; freedom from the law, to live outside social and cultural norms, no matter how reckless or violent that culture can get even in its earliest iterations.

By affectionately picking apart the playful posturing of these characters, the film wryly deconstructs the gangs’ machismo, offering a tender look at their distorted sense of camaraderie and kinship. The result is a tale of brotherly love woven from the damaged threads of the characters’ fragile egos.

And by letting us watch through Kathy’s both enchanted and repulsed view, we get a complicated portrayal, grounded by her insightful voice-over. She gives the film a self-awareness and a sense of dread, as surely these reckless men chasing thrills and freedom are doomed by their own arrogance. Indeed, this film is about a vibe, a subculture that is almost alien to us in 2024.

It’s also very much about motorcycles and what it meant to be an outlaw rider in the 1960s in America. Like the book, this is more of a snapshot of a bygone era and like the open road, the film is also a bit open-ended for your interpretation.

It helps that film has a solid cast and performances. Tom Hardy is fantastic as Johhny, the rough and gruff creator of the biker club. Hardy stalks the screen in a deeply felt performance full of pathos, tenderness and fear. Jodie Corner continues to excel in every role. If anything, she is the main lead as it uses Kathy’s interviews to thread everything together.

But while Austin Butler suffuses his tough guy with a tenderness that shines from his puppy-dog eyes, his depiction feels shallow next to his more seasoned co-stars. When the film leans on Butler, its act falls flat. He’s got the look but lacks the depth needed to flesh out this tall, dark, and silent anti-hero.

The rest of the supporting cast which includes the likes of Mike Faist, Michael Shannon, Damon Herriman, Boyd Holbrook, Emory Cohen, Beau Knapp, Karl Glusman, Toby Wallace and Norman Reedus are terrific. On the whole, ‘The Bikeriders’ is a solid biker drama that is throughout compelling, immersive and provocative.