Review: The Bikeriders

Directed by: Jeff Nichols

Written by: Jeff Nichols

Starring: Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Mike Faist

Rating: [3.5/5]

Father time remains undefeated for all individuals, as we all know, but the unending passage of time can have the same impact on cultural movements where change in them can render them unrecognizable. This has happened in various stages in motorcycle gang culture, which the Bikeriders seek to highlight through its nostalgic look back to a perceived better time. 

While hanging out with a friend at a biker bar, Kathy (Jodie Comer) meets the alluring Benny (Austin Butler), who runs with the Chicago-based Vandals Motorcycle Club. Marrying five weeks later, Kathy gets thrust into the biker wife’s lifestyle as she learns about what it means to love one of these men and just how much being a part of this club and riding their bikes means to them. 

While having no extraordinary knowledge about them, the biker lifestyle feels so ingrained with America. A way of life that aligns with this nation’s values because of the fraternal bond built between the men and the freedom felt when riding not some two thousand-pound box, but rather a motorcycle. Bikeriders seem to bring us right into one with Kathy serving as our conduit to see that this means more than anyone could possibly imagine. Take the very opening scene of the film where Benny, as arrogant as ever, sits in a bar where he receives a threat to take off the jacket displaying he’s a Vandal. Rather than avoiding trouble and acquiescing, he states the only way the jacket comes off is if they kill him. To have that much pride in anything one wears means they certainly take it seriously, and this film seeks to highlight just that. 

Through Kathy, we experience all of the parties, gatherings, but most importantly all of the different types of men who would want to join the Vandals along with what they bring with them. That leads us to Johnny Davis (Tom Hardy). Now, Tom Hardy has never heard a voice or accent he did not want to try and as Johnny he takes on a Midwest accent I’m guessing by the geographical location of this film. As much as this story focuses on Kathy and Benny’s relationship, the other focal point rests with Johnny as the leader of the Vandals. A figure who started this whole group based on something he saw on television and has grown it far beyond anything he could possibly imagine. As we see as the narrative progresses it grows beyond his control at a certain point where the purity of what he began becomes unrecognizable. This transpires with new individuals trying to join and make this club into something Johnny never envisioned. This particular storyline embodies the very best this film has to offer. 

Navigating the moments of joy and the gradual change enhances the assertion of this film operating in a nostalgic view of the past. Looking back at a time when being in a gang meant something beyond what these usurpers now want it all to represent. We see this specifically with Kathy and the way she experiences being part of this group tangentially through her husband, thus setting up a role that Jodie Comer absolutely devours. Coming in and taking on her own Midwestern accent, Comer represents the heart and soul of this story. Serving as the narrator of sorts in this story as she recounts her experience with the Vandals, we see everything through her eyes and the joy and pains of being married to a guy like Benny. Comer unleashes this ferocity with her character that makes her so captivating to watch. If anything, she also injects some humor in the way she can objectively look at the moments where her husband and everyone else in the Vandals could use some introspection on what this club does to them. A true haymaker of a performance, accent and all, where she elevates everyone around her. 

A film capturing a movement no longer existing in the same way, The Bikeriders very much feels like a catalog displaying the freezing of a moment in time. Through these characters we see what existed and exactly how it all changed when a new generation entered but even with the rich melancholy of this film, it still contains those moments of joy. It does this in those moments in displaying exactly why these men would want to partake in this lifestyle, and this balance exemplifies what makes this film one to enjoy.