A student of the ‘gonzo’ approach to journalism pioneered by Hunter S. Thompson, photographer Danny Lyon immersed himself into the notoriously non-conformist motorcycle subculture in the 1960s and even became a fully-fledged member of a Midwestern gang for a couple of years. His findings were published in a photo-book that has been adapted for the screen by writer and director Jeff Nichols.
Crime drama The Bikeriders centres around everywoman Kathy (Jodie Comer) who falls for rebel biker Benny (Austin Butler) after spending an adventurous evening on the back of his Harley-Davidson. He’s a member of a Chicago-based club known as the Vandals and is fiercely loyal to Johnny (Tom Hardy), their fearless leader. As the years roll on, groups from all over the country arrive to ride alongside them, and before long they are thrust into a dark underworld of violence.
Described as “GoodFellas on Harleys” on the poster, the filmmaking approach does owe a creative debt to the recognisable style of Martin Scorsese. With freezeframes, slow-mo shots, a rock heavy soundtrack and Kathy’s narration to keep us in check, the influences are sewn into the fabric of the film like a patch on the Vandals’ jackets. This gives the structure the enjoyable familiarity of a ‘hang-out movie’ despite the steady threat of peril, with the plot moving from scrap to skirmish as the characters navigate their freewheeling lifestyles. Speaking to the tribalistic nature of attaching your entire identity to a clan such as this, Nichols’ incisive script exhibits the highs and lows through Johnny, Benny, and their growing number of outcast allies, but also taps into the crushing impact these ties can have outside of their inner circle; Kathy’s no-nonsense perspective provides a compelling lens for the piece.
Like in Ridley Scott’s historical epic The Last Duel, lead actor Jodie Comer finds herself surrounded by men in a testosterone-fuelled landscape again. She gives another terrific performance, capturing Kathy’s unorthodox Chicagoan cadence and giving the film its emotional core. Two of her candid interviews with Danny Lyon, portrayed in the film by Mike Faist, work as a clever framing device; the first expressing excitement at her involvement with the local renegades and the second showing a reflective maturity that illustrates the heavy toll it can have.
Soft-spoken but volatile, Austin Butler is an electric presence in a turn that furthers his reputation as a poster boy of his generation – though that shallow praise should take nothing away from his acting. In early scenes, we see him through Kathy’s awe-struck impressionable eyes, and Nichols’ camera continues to see him in that glow throughout. Tom Hardy has often been compared to Marlon Brando in his career, and really leans into that with this menacing but oddly loveable role. We learn that Johnny was inspired to start his own club after watching The Wild One, so the mimicry is especially apt on this occasion.
Director Jeff Nichols has defined his career with cinematic studies of Americana, and his latest feature The Bikeriders is a stylish and entertaining picture of a trio of souls trapped by their own grease-stained vision of the ‘land of the free’.
Cinema Perspective 