LIFF: The Bikeriders Review
Florence Heaton reviews The Bikeriders as part of Leeds International Film Festival 2023. The festival runs across the city until 19th November, for more information check out our LIFF Survival Guide.
The Bikeriders is undoubtedly a passion project from director Jeff Nichols, this being his first movie since Loving in 2016. The inspiration had been sitting with him for 20 years since he first saw Danny Lyon’s photography book about a group of bikers in 1960’s America. Nichols succeeds in reviving the rock-and-rolling, grease-flecked vibe to life.
Jodie Comer is Kathy Cross, wife of reckless biker Benny (played by a brooding Austin Butler with the dregs of his Elvis drawl), who narrates the rise and fall of a motorcycle club – later, gang – through the 60s and 70s. Comer is charming, despite her dubious accent, as she provides an outsider’s perspective to the Vandals. The group founded by a mutual love of bikes, headed by Tom Hardy as gritty truck driver Johnny. It’s difficult to take Hardy seriously when he’s talking like a parody of Brando in The Godfather, but his subtle commanding of the screen and occasionally unhinged expressions make him a believable frontrunner to this group of violent misfits.
There’s a nod to Nichols’ inspiration Lyon, played here by Mike Faist (Riff – West Side Story) in the role of interviewer. He follows the group with a microphone and camera, capturing glimpses of the club and its sense of deep-rooted comradery. Toby Wallace plays a wayward young man hoping to penetrate this brotherhood, deeply unsettling in his performance as The Kid, who ushers in a fresh wave of bikers seeking to exacerbate the gang’s dark underbelly. Tightly coiled and ready to spring at any moment, Wallace brings with him all the swagger and vitriol he exhibited in Netflix’s The Society.
Cinematographer Adam Stone delivers impressive shots of the bikes in formation at sunset, as people in the street watch the group flash by, mesmerised. The bikers are like a swarm, engines humming and black jackets sizzling in the Midwestern heat. With no shortage of sexy slow-mos and a soundtrack that brilliantly encapsulates the leather-worn, petrol-fuelled era, it’s hard not to be charmed. Aesthetically, this movie is a triumph.
The bikers are like a swarm, engines humming and black jackets sizzling in the Midwestern heat.
Florence Heaton
However, over the course of two hours, The Bikeriders gradually starts to lose power, the barely-there plot hanging on by a thread of Butler’s denim jacket by the halfway mark. It’s logical when considering this movie is inspired only by snapshots, but it’s a shame that Nichols couldn’t piece together a script of more substance. A rather predictable predicament starts to form: Kathy, the frustrated wife, believes she can change her husband’s hot-headed ways, but finds herself fighting with Johnny, who wants Benny to be his successor as gang leader. The dynamic is almost a love triangle, but Nichols fails to develop the characters enough to be compelled in either direction.
The Bikeriders is an ode to an often-romanticised decade and subculture, a surface-level movie that’s as good-looking as its lead actors. But on a deeper story-telling level it unfortunately doesn’t achieve anything noteworthy. That being said, it will satisfy any fan of Austin Butler’s forearms, which get a significant amount of screen time and ultimately, steal the show.
The Bikeriders, originally scheduled to be theatrically released 1st December 2023, has been postponed indefinitely due to the SAG-AFTRA strikes. You can read Florence’s review of Anatomy of a Fall or the rest of The Gryphon’s LIFF 2023 coverage on the Arts and Culture section.
