The Bikeriders oozes cool in every frame. Jeff Nichols soulfully captures a time and way of life to the sound of revving engines and a heart-pumping soundtrack.
The 1960s were a revolutionary decade in American, one where the people came into power more than ever. A powerful emergence of sub-culture rippled all through the country as the subsects of the middle and working class searched to be heard, to be seen, to create an identity of their own. It was a time where the political and social sphere was in constant reshaping as seen through movies, music, the arts, and the culture in general.
One of the many “new age” ways of creating a counterculture to “stand up to the man” was the passion of motorcycle, which saw the rise to prominence of Harley Davidson bikes, particularly in the Midwest, where away from the big capitals and bustling urban environment, in the community-driven small towns, many gravitated towards a place to belong, a place to call home away from home, away from the day-to-day routine which so many felt robbed them of their identity, dreams and life goals.
It was where the infamous motorcycle clubs were birthed and transformed into so much more than just a sub-culture, more than a place to define their worldviews, political or religious beliefs or even to hide from the world and society that shunned so many. It became a place to belong, a nest to be who one wanted to be unapologetically.
This was the world that called onto Danny Lyon, who went on to investigate the appeal of this very exclusive club, which seemed to welcome a very specific type of person, but made an impact all around, almost making those outside it the outsiders themselves.
This investigation took the form of yearlong interviews as well as a collection of pictures that chronicled the collective and individual journeys of the members of the Chicago Vandals and eventually transformed into a book.
Upon finding this book of photographs about an outlaw motorcycle club in the 1960s American Midwest Jeff Nichols instantly recognized it as the coolest thing that he’d ever seen in his entire life, and 20 years later he’s finally turned that book into the coolest film of the year.
Set over the course of the 1960s, it follows the Midwestern motorcycle club: Chicago Vandals. As it evolves from a gathering place for local outsiders into a more sinister gang, threatening the original group’s unique way of life.
This sprawling American tragedy sees a roaring Jeff Nichols return to form by helming the piece with lingering focus on character by way of his earnest look at the respect, and love from an outsider perspective within a motorcycle club. Not just a “club” by its literal definition, but a safe haven for wayward souls to find a sense of belonging where no questions were asked of them, a gathering of kindred spirits who worry not about who they are supposed to be but are accepted for being who they are.
This much is immediately obvious Nichols doesn’t simply observe the time, the setting, and the lifestyle but they are instead characters in it of themselves: Nichols creates an enveloping world that allures Kathy (Jodie Comer) and frees her from the societal restraints and pre-conceptions she’d been indoctrinated into before witnessing this world and its people first-hand. Nichols is perfectly comfortable in allowing us to experience this way of life alongside its dirt-stained, denim wearing, leather-clad believers: the fights, the races, the drinking, the rule-breaking and the unadulterated adventures of their day-to-day.
The club is home if home is missing a sense of brotherhood, it’s where a lonely drifter finds kindred spirit who truly understand them. It’s what Johnny (Tom Hardy), already a husband & father of two when first staring the club, longed for after work where more weight and responsibility awaited him and tired him to sleep.
This sense of leadership and initiative is exactly what attracts the youthful Benny (Austin Butler), a brash and unburdened young man seeking refuge from the loneliness of his day-to-day, despite refusing to show it, and consequently, this mentality and posturing is what hypnotises Kathy when first laying eyes on his disarming if captivating energy.
It’s an evocative & masculine story of brotherhood which effortlessly oozes with coolness, thanks to the characters and tradition it explores, but also by smartly casting the Avengers of sexiest method actors working: Austin Butler exhibits cool intensity as the heir-to-be of the Vandals, a man who will jump into action for his brothers without hesitation, even something without knowing a fight isn’t actually necessary.
Benny disregards the passing of the torch Johnny intends to place onto him, he rejects the idea of responsibility as by principle he doesn’t see himself as a leader or someone to be looked up to. Benny only seeks belonging and the idea of being more than what he already is alien to him; in Benny’s eyes the club is Johnny and Johnny is the club, one does not exist without the other. This macho bravado impedes Benny from caring, or at the very least, display any emotionality towards the club, his friends, his wife, or anything he so dearly cares for.
A posturing Kathy is all too familiar and frustrated with, not allowing her to emotionally connect with her own husband on any deeper level, she is married to Benny as much as she is married to the club. This is his life, and he coasts on the comfort of things being exactly the way they are: a worldview in complete contrast to that of world-weary Johnny, already a middle-aged man cynically aware of his limits and the time he has left to keep the club going with him as the man everyone turns to.
Johnny bears the crushing weight of leadership but it’s Hardy’s performance which elevates the written character to one who perfectly balances the nuance between swagger and fragility. Johnny trusts Benny, the two share a sense of undying loyalty, but while Johnny is vulnerable enough to show it; it’s Benny youthful pride and self-imposed ideal of masculinity that keeps him from seeing how life really is, the idea of change and accountability go over his head, to the point he doesn’t accept how he could somehow be responsible for how the club begins to fall by the wayside, projecting the faults of the club onto Johnny, as the latter pleads with Benny to see how things are out of control.
This disappointment causes a rift between the two, Benny’s stubborn ideals eventually being the catalyst the bring the club to become something far worse and more sinister than Johnny or any other member wished it to be, instead of a collective of outcasts, it became a snake’s nest of outlaws who proved every prejudicial notion of it right: criminals, gang members, drug runners, arms dealers. The club dies for Benny inactions and his inability to understand what it truly is to care for something.
It’s a quintessential tale of the American dream: a time capsule to a period where any form of vulnerability and emotionality haunted even those who rejected the indoctrination of the powers that be, taking away individuality and crippling those seeking connection even if in the margins of society.
This tone of sadness is perfectly conveyed by a transformative Jodie Comer who, while chronicling the highs and lows of her individual way of life, can’t help but see exactly what Benny never could all along: what once was their home, his home, became a prison for those who didn’t leave soon enough.
His inability to become the shepherd he so once needed cost him the thing his loved the most, the one place who allowed him to be who he ever wanted to be. Her talent is undeniable and becomes the heart and soul of the film as Nichols sneakily dives deeper into these ideas & themes in the film’s latter half.
For fans of the sub-culture, even believers in this way of life, such concept might feel all to familiar, after all: not only do so many live by this creed of freedom, but there’s also a little 7 season long series called “Sons of Anarchy” which in the past decade took the world by storm as it crafted a Shakespearean-like tapestry addressing these very same story-threads.
It’s not enough to strip Nichols´ tale of his own sense of individuality: from the gritty visuals capturing the grand American highways and the beautiful brotherly bonds connecting people from all ages, backgrounds and walks of life that birthed a community forged by undying loyalty, to the absolutely pitch perfect soundtrack, in itself a character which transports us to the everyday lives of the coolest outsiders in the history of the American Midwest. Rock n’ roll perfectly accompanied by the sound fistfights and the clanging of cold beers.
THE BIKERIDERS oozes COOL in every frame! Jeff Nichols soulfully captures a time & way of life to the sound of revving engines & a heart-pumping soundtrack.
Comfortably lingers on the highs of undying loyalty & the lows of self-destruction, but unafraid to sneak deeper into individual values, self-imposed masculinity & the true meaning of brotherhood.
FINAL GRADE: A-
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About The Bikeriders
From writer-director Jeff Nichols (“Loving,” “Midnight Special,” “Mud”), 20th Century Studios and New Regency, “The Bikeriders” is a furious drama following the rise of a fictional 1960s Midwestern motorcycle club through the lives of its members.
Inspired by Danny Lyon’s iconic book of photography, “The Bikeriders” immerses you in the look, feel, and sounds of the bare-knuckled, grease-covered subculture of ’60s motorcycle riders.
Kathy (Comer), a strong-willed member of the Vandals who’s married to a wild, reckless bikerider named Benny (Butler), recounts the Vandals’ evolution over the course of a decade, beginning as a local club of outsiders united by good times, rumbling bikes, and respect for their strong, steady leader Johnny (Hardy). Over the years, Kathy tries her best to navigate her husband’s untamed nature and his allegiance to Johnny, with whom she feels she must compete for Benny’s attention.
As life in the Vandals gets more dangerous, and the club threatens to become a more sinister gang, Kathy, Benny and Johnny are forced to make choices about their loyalty to the club and to each other. Sarah Green, p.g.a., Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, p.g.a. and Arnon Milchan are the producers. Yariv Milchan, Michael Schaefer, Sam Hanson, David Kern and Fred Berger are the executive producers.
“The Bikeriders” opens in U.S. theaters on December 1.
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Renato Vieira. 28.
Film Critic/Screenwriter from London UK
Masters Degree in Film Directing.
EIC of YouTube Channel “Ren Geekness”.