The Bikeriders (2024)

[AngieBee1]

Written and directed by Jeff Nichols (Midnight Special, Loving) and originally slated for a December 2023 is THE BIKERIDERS which was inspired by Danny Lyon's photobook of the same name that featured The Outlaws Motorcycle Club.

Starring Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy, Austin Butler and a slew of excellent character actors in fairly small roles (Michael Shannon, Damon Herriman, Boyd Holbrook Karl Glusman and Beau Knapp), THE BIKERIDERS is a surprisingly near meditative film about belonging. I think people may expect it to be action packed and rough and tumble, but to me it's more about community and the growing pains that comes with life.

Opening in the mid to late sixties, Kathy (Jodie Comer) is recounting to Danny Lyon (Mike Faist) her entry into the circle of The Vandals by way of getting involved with member Benny (Butler). Coupled with Lyons interviews with the other members, we get a look into the lives of these riders under their leader Johnny (Tom Hardy).

For all the promo Butler is doing, the film really focuses on Comer's Kathy and Hardy's Johnny and their tug-of-war for Benny, with Butler seemingly used as a symbolic and idealized figure of a motorcycle rider: one just seeking freedom on the road. 

Very interesting film. If I had one complaint I wish it had gone deeper into (what they only touched on) how the bike culture changed from being a sort of social club to criminal enterprise. 

[chediavolo]

It was violent from the start.  Never a fun loving social club. Gang/herd mentality & the promise of riches from drug dealing.  The social club aspect was never a mild one. These were men who, for the most part, came back from war with PTSD & received no help. They turned to each other & it became like ruminating is in the psych world. All that anger & mental stress exploded. Misogyny, prejudice, racism, sexism, hatred, greed. 

[AimingforYoko]

I was a little disappointed. Midnight Special is my favorite movie of the previous decade and this was so by the numbers. 

And I love Jodie Comer, but that accent was straight out of the SNL Superfans sketch. 

[Shannon L.]

I didn't hate it, but I did think it was a little slow.  I expected it to be more intense.  I thought Comer* was great, but since she was narrating and Kathy's partner/husband was Benny, and since Comer and Butler got top billing, I expected a lot more about him specifically.  

*I did think her accent was kind of off, but I know some people who have really thick accents, and I have no idea what an Illinois accent sounds like. 

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Chicago accent sounds like Detective Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) on NYPD Blue.