Written & directed by Jeff Nichols, The Bikeriders, follows the lives of the Vandals MC, a fictional version of the outlaw motorcycle club founded in the late 1960’s, based on a photo-book of the same name by Danny Lyon. With large ensemble cast, the film tells majority of its story from the perspective of Kathy Bauer (Jodie Comer), the wife of Benny Bauer (Austin Butler), a member of the group. Tom Hardy Plays as Johnny Davis, the leader of the motorcycle group. In supporting roles, the film also stars Michael Shannon, Mike Faist, Norman Reedus, Boyd Holbrook, Beau Knapp, and Toby Wallace.

Getting an actual release nearly a year after it premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival, the film has been able to drum up a lot of anticipation. When Disney pulled the film from being released through its 20th Century Studios division, a release date before awards considerations seemed uncertain. Focus Features soon picked up the film after, but pushed its release date to be seven months later in June of 2024. It’s an interesting choice as it feels like this film would do wonders if it was released later in the year. It has awards consideration written all over it. While the film is great, it doesn’t hold up well enough to be released in the summer.

I can’t say I was as excited as others with the film, yet the cast truly intrigued me. When you look at the main cast, it’s easy to point out that Jodie Comer was top-billed, which is intentional and something that didn’t fully surprise me when I saw that much of the film is her telling the story to Danny Lyon, played by Mike Faist. The film is clearly inspired by Goodfellas with its approach from the way the story is told. It’s an attempt to tell a broader perspective on the motorcycle club culture, yet it can be messy with its execution.

Even though I love Jodie Comer as an actress, telling the story from her perspective feels like the film’s biggest mistake. When you see the rest of the film, it feels like Jeff Nichols is in full control of this world, yet was pressured into telling this other perspective. The problem with that is trying to understand the importance of her perspective. I wasn’t crazy about the accent that Comer was using, but trying to her side of the story doesn’t make full sense when she is not even there for half of the film’s events. There’s even a moment when she mentions that she gets married to Benny only five weeks after meeting him, yet they don’t even show the wedding. Had the film focused primarily on the group with Comer telling a different side of the story in a smaller role, it would have truly shown the contrast between what these men thought they were doing versus the way the people outside of the club viewed them.

When you don’t think of that narrative device, the film is on track to be quite the strong film. The production & costume design effectively portrays its time. It makes you want to be immersed into this world, even though not everything these guys are doing are okay. It’s the way this world looks that makes you love the culture as much as these guys do.

The film’s biggest selling point involves the cast, and it’s for good reason. While everyone is mostly good with what they have, it’s Tom Hardy as the shining star. From the way he speaks without any dialogue to the way he actually delivers his lines, he is what keeps the film going. It has to be one of his best performances in what feels like years and proves why he is still great outside of other things such as Venom. As for Austin Butler, he does his job well. He didn’t blow me away with his performance, but he does sell it when he has to look like someone who loves motorcycles. It’s also great to such a large & likable ensemble that director Jeff Nichols knows how to properly place into the story.

This may also be the film’s other downfall. While the cast sells it with their performances, telling the story from Comer’s perspective, leads to majority of these characters not getting the proper character development to help you understand why they love this culture, and why you should to. Sure, it’s through these guy’s actions that you see the love, yet there is so much context missing. You understand why Hardy’s character develops this group is misfits, but you never know why Butler’s character is so invested with this group nor why Danny Lyon is so interested in telling this story. There’s little segments that briefly explain the why for these characters. Unfortunately, when the film doesn’t even meet the 2 hour mark, I can help but to think there was room for more to be added to fill in the gaps.

As for director Jeff Nichols, I can only hope this finally puts him on the map on a larger scale. I’ve been familiar with him since I first saw Mud. He has done other genres, showing that he is effective at creating these different worlds. It’s been technically 7 years since he last had a film release in 2016, which actually had him release two movies that year. I can only imagine his work prior to The Bikeriders gave him the opportunity to develop this film even more. You can see the craft he is putting into his work. With the large ensemble cast, I am surprised that he doesn’t need a co-director. Nichols simply makes it work by connecting with the cast and taking his time with fleshing out the story.

Overall, The Bikeriders has more than enough quality throughout, even when it’s clear where certain things could be fixed. The cast sells the movie, with performances that are amongst their best in their career. The film serves as the perfect love letter to the culture that viewers can also appreciate through its vision & design.

VERDICT: 4/5 – Great