The Bikeriders
It is all about those colours
Jodie Comer. Cool. Tom Hardy. Cool. Austin Butler. Cool. Motorbikes. COOL. The Bikeriders oozes coolness with the deep roars of bikes and the leather-clad bikers endlessly drinking and smoking.
Our biker tale is based on the true story of a Chicago-based motorcycle club, the Vandals, who were interviewed and photographed by student Danny Lyon throughout the 1960s. The motorcycle gang, and when I mean gang, I really mean ‘social club’ was started by Johnny Davis (Tom Hardy) who was inspired by watching Marlon Brando in The Wild One and wanting to have a place to share his love for riding motorcycles. Along for the ride is die-hard biker, Benny (Austin Butler) the near-emotionless renegade who is wholeheartedly devoted to the Vandals and his ‘colours’. His girlfriend, who narrates the film, Kathy (Jodie Comer), details how the Vandals go from a facsimile gang to a bonafide gang that we now associate with today with the menacing drugs and violence.
Behind all this coolness of The Bikeriders is a cracking soundtrack that seamlessly throws us into the 1960s. There is so much classic rock in this movie, it's actually quite delicious (if that is your kind of thing). Cream, Bo Diddly, Them, The Stooges, Dale Hawkins, and many more accompany our biker story, making it all the more bosh. There are several sequences of the Vandals pack riding through Illinois and with the music, it would make anyone want to don the leather and jump onto two wheels. We also have three titan actors as leads, providing a strong foundation for the movie. Jodie Comer, in particular, shows again how great she is at accents and embodying her character as the despairing girlfriend of Benny, who often chooses the Vandals over her, but as our narrator, she keeps us informed on how the Vandals evolve. Hardy and Butler are excellent in being able to express a huge amount of emotion just by using micromovements with their eyes and face, a skill which is exceptionally profound when they are playing the silent biker type. Comer, Hardy and Butler bring such great on-screen presence that you just drink in each and every scene they're in.
Although The Bikeriders is a joy to watch for all of its macho energy and slick style, the plot is a bit stuck in second gear. Even for a shortish movie, it feels a lot longer. So many scenes are slow and go on just a bit longer than they need to. When the plot could move forward, we often get men staring into the abyss. A big point of the story is how the Vandals morph into a violent biker gang, but this development happens somewhat abruptly, almost as though it was an afterthought. So much more of the film is given to the problematic relationship between Benny and Kathy as well as the exploration of fraternity between Johnny and Benny which is fine but this third element makes The Bikeriders feel like one of those heart attack burgers with 18 patties. The non-linear storyline works well in concept however more suspense between the time jumps would have brought more life to the movie overall.
Another thing that detracts from The Bikeriders is casting. No no no, I’m not talking about Tom Hardy’s hard-to-hear American accent, I’m talking about Damon Herriman who plays Brucie, Johnny’s right-hand man. This is an unfair comment, but Herriman, with his hair dyed red and in pompadour style, gave him the unfortunate and uncanny resemblance to talk show host, Conan O’Brien. I could not, for the life of me not think that Conan was a part of the Vandals. The casting director and the production team surely would have seen the resemblance and probably had a bit of a laugh and continued on but they should have pivoted Brucie’s look to avoid such a distraction. I mean, c’mon!
The Bikeriders is an interesting film. Watching it in the theatre will provide plenty of enjoyment with the loud roars of the motorcycles shaking your seat, but several times throughout the movie I thought, “What is the point of this film?” That is due to its meandering plot. But there is something also quite special about this story. It shows an unadulterated 1960s America; a decade that began with a lot of hope and promise but ended in drugs, violence and anger. The early 60s were reaping the rewards of economic recovery from the Second World War. But by the end, America had become divided; political assassinations were rampant, urban areas were populated by poor African Americans, and white America moved out into the suburbs. This movie captures this sad turn incredibly well, let alone how well it transports us back to such a cool decade.
This movie is worth a watch. I, for one, will watch it again. The Bikeriders came third at the box office, behind Inside Out 2 and Bad Boys: Ride or Die, but without a doubt, this motorcycle homage will mature better than the other two in the long run.
A- Grade