Leave it to Director Jeff Nichols (the man behind Take Shelter, Mud, Loving, and Midnight Special) to upset your expectations in delivering a film about a true-life motorcycle gang that operated in the Midwest (founded in Chicago) from 1965-1973.
Those expecting a high degree of lawlessness, the taking down of scores, and fighting with rival gangs are likely to be disappointed by The Bikeriders. Put simply, Sons of Anarchy it ain’t. In fact, if anything, the film is a character-based, subculture exploration timepiece about a way of life that no longer exists (unless you think SOA is realistic).
It’s very important to think of the timeframe the movie takes place during. The mid-sixties and early seventies was a time in our country that was built upon angst. The Vietnam War was raging and the Civil Rights movement was pushing its way through assassinations and into life-changing legislation. But what if you didn’t feel a connection to that time and place? What was there for you?
For the men in The Vandals (renamed from the book’s The Outlaws, likely to give Nichols some additional artistic license), there was the motorcycle club. A group within which they could find brotherhood, whether they met at the bar, or camped outside an abandoned building and told fish stories. The interesting part is most of the conversations are about things that happened to them, not things they were planning to do.
Even so, word spread throughout the neighboring states, and despite not being all that well organized or desirous of expansion, new chapters began opening up in middle America. As the leader of The Vandals, Johnny (the great Tom Hardy) lacks the vision or the energy to manage the growth of The Vandals (by the end of the movie, Hardy looks like the tiredest man alive) and he selects Benny (Austin Butler) to succeed.
It’s a real statement about Johnny’s quality of decision-making that he would even suggest to Benny to become a leader. Benny is a tag-a-long and that’s all he wants to be. Early on, there’s a joke made about how Benny isn’t even a good bike rider thanks to his propensity to fall off his Harley.
Due to Benny’s reluctance (and more that should not be said in a review of a new release), Johnny carries on, but despite the less than a decade run that Johnny had as a leader of The Vandals, a major generation gap starts to form. Older members are beer drinkers who aren’t going too far beyond bar fights when it comes to trouble. But the younger members are pot smokers—many of whom have returned from Vietnam. The younger group is more volatile and eager to take The Vandals from biker club to organized crime. Infighting ensues, and the clubs original aims start to untether.
Much of the story is told by Benny’s girlfriend Kathy (Jodie Comer—who gives the best performance in the film) in flashback to a reporter who spent four years with the club and wants to finish the story by finding out what happened to the original group. Comer’s midwestern accent is a dead ringer for the real life woman she plays in the film, and her dose of feminine perspective is sorely needed in a film with so much testosterone fueling it. There is a matter-of-factness in which Comer delivers every line that helps you understand how this particular woman would spend this much time with these people. Kathy is a passenger with the club, but also, to a degree (despite having a unique personality) a passenger in her own life. Until she decides otherwise in a low-key scene with Benny that is somehow delivered in a modest tone by Comer, and yet still clearly with non- negotiable terms.
While the supporting cast is deep in the film (Nichols’ steady Michael Shannon is among the cast, as are Norman Reedus, and Mike Faist), this is largely a three actor show with Comer, Hardy, and Butler supplying the main characters of interest. It’s no surprise that Comer and Hardy shine here, but Austin Butler, who I would have thought a bit too pretty for the role of Benny does solid work as well.
Count me among the people who did not care for Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis in the slightest, and I found Butler’s performance to range from doe-eyed to somewhat slightly dazed. Since escaping Luhrmann’s clutches (it’s not like his films are full of actors having their finest moments), Butler has appeared in Apple TV’s Masters of theAir, where he looked every bit the engaging movie star in waiting, and TheBikeriders further embellishes his potential. He’s quite good here. Full stop.
But it’s Comer that steals the film with her enigmatic precision, creating a character that you’ve never met before, shouldn’t be able to fully understand, yet somehow do. Comer was wrongly overlooked for an Oscar nomination for The Last Duel, and with The Bikeriderscoming out in June, and unlikely to be a huge hit (due to its lack of sensationalism), she likely won’t be honored for this fine film either. Make no mistake though, barring the bizarre, her time is coming.
As for the film as a whole, I think for some The Bikeriders may feel uneventful, dull even. But as I left the theater, I found these characters, this far less than sensational rendering of their lifestyle starting to stick to my bones. To my mind, Nichols’ has made four truly great films in a row, and while I think The Bikeriders falls short of greatness, it’s still a quality film. The kind a director with a long career (which Nichols will hopefully have) registers as mid-level on a resume with many outstanding accomplishments.
There’s a great scene late in the film when a character is living a new, “straight life” far away from the home of The Vandals, no longer even owning a motorcycle. Someone refers to him as being happy now. Nichols’ camera stealthily makes its way to a closeup on the character’s face, who offers a weak smile, but in his head, you hear the throttling engine of a motorcycle.
The longing is still there, regardless of how far behind that life has been left.
