The Bikeriders
The Bikeriders is playing in theaters at the time of writing. Rated R. Common Sense says 16+.
Kathy (Jodie Comer) falls for bad-boy Benny (Austin Butler), a member of Johnny’s (Tom Hardy) motorcycle club. The trio will need to steer their way through the many challenges that arise as the Chicago Vandals begin to grow.
STORY: B-
The story has plenty of what you expect, but it’s also a much more cerebral ride than you’d guess.
Bike riding casts its alluring, gasoline tinged spell over Kathy and Johnny.
They’re each swept away in their own love affair with the freedom that motorcycles give them (a freedom personified by Benny).
PEOPLE: A-
A stellar trifecta of performance.
Both Hardy and Comer float smoothly between steely control and flailing desperation, revealing their characters’ full humanity in the process.
Butler’s performance is understated. He plays an idea more than a human being.
FILM NERD STUFF: A-
The cinematography sings with style and swing.
Motorcycles are cool. The film’s superb camera work captures every single drop of their cool.
In a fireside conversation between Benny and Johnny, the camera combines angles, distance, and shadows to create worlds teeming with subtext. It’s an unforgettable scene.
ELECTIVE CLASS (Dream On!): A
Can’t have a dream without the dreamers.
The film asks us: Who are we without our dreams? And what are our dreams without us?
For me, the joy of this film is the way it spends nearly every second exploring these questions.
FINAL COMMENTS:
Writer-director Jeff Nichols gives us everything we’d expect from a tale about tough, 1960s bikeriders. Fists fly. Bones break. Rumbles abound. But I’d argue that the lifeblood of the movie isn’t the blood left splattered on the asphalt. It’s the meditation simmering beneath the brawn, the one that considers what route your life will take when you fall in love with the idea of something and try to wrangle it under your control.
The film succeeds on both its surface and deeper levels. It’s a movie you’ll love talking about long after the smell of popcorn and exhaust fumes have floated away.