Reviews

Jeff Nichols has assembled a veritable who’s who for his new motorcycle club drama The Bikeriders.

The film, based on a photojournalism book by Danny Lyon, tells the story of the Vandals motorcycle club in Chicago across several years in the ’60s and ’70s. What begins as a group for bike lovers led by Johnny (Tom Hardy) eventually devolves into a violent crime syndicate.

The audience’s window into the world is Kathy (Jodie Comer), who is married to prominent Vandals member Benny (Austin Butler). She gives interviews with photographer/journalist Danny (Mike Faist) over the years and catches him up on the Vandals’ gossip, thereby becoming our de facto narrator.

Because of this narrative device, Kathy and Comer are the heart of the film, even though they’re not actually in the motorcycle club! We get to know her the best and understand her position on all the goings-on, while Benny and Johnny have a mysterious quality about them. Benny, in particular, is very stoic so you have no idea what he thinks most of the time.

Considering there’s such a big ensemble cast – which also includes Michael Shannon, Norman Reedus, Karl Glusman and Boyd Holbrook – it’s understandable that the most of the characters are thinly written, however, the core trio (Johnny, Benny and Kathy) deserved a bit more depth.

While it is never boring hanging out with the Vandals, more needed to happen narratively. There are some pivotal plot moments here and there but the story never becomes truly gripping or worthy of emotional investment.

The accents have attracted a lot of headlines and reasonably so, considering Hardy employs an extremely bizarre accent for Johnny when his co-stars mostly just speak with a twang. Comer’s voice is specific and unusual but her’s is actually based on the real Kathy’s tapes and is surprisingly accurate.

The Bikeriders really secures Comer’s status as a master of accents and a talented performer, while it cements Butler’s status as an in-demand heartthrob as he looks like a star in every scene.

While the film as a whole is slightly underwhelming narratively, you cannot fault the lead performances or the authentic world Nichols created.

In cinemas from Friday 21st June.

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