Austin Butler as Benny in director Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders.” Credit: Focus Features via TNS
Summer 2024 has paled in comparison to 2023’s summer movie lineup, heavily lacking headline-grabbing blockbusters like “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Barbenheimer” — a fan-made moniker referring to the double feature of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” — and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.”
Whether this lull results from the numerous Hollywood writers’ strikes last year or an industry-wide letup, audiences have to look a little bit harder to figure out what movie they want to spend their money on during their next cinema outing.
Though Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders” lacks the usual fanfare of a June release, it is every bit a diamond in the rough for this year’s prime release season.
“The Bikeriders” is inspired by a photography-collection book of the same name, which was created in the early 1960s by photographer Danny Lyon. Lyon documented the stories and personalities of the original members of the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club, whose slightly fictionalized selves are referred to as “the Vandals Motorcycle Club” in the movie.
As such, “The Bikeriders” is a character-driven story, led by a remarkably charismatic cast including Tom Hardy (“Mad Max: Fury Road”) as the club’s founder Johnny, Austin Butler (“Elvis”) as young upstart biker Benny and Jodie Comer (“The Last Duel”) as Kathy, Benny’s wife.
Indeed, the star-studded cast fuels the story and keeps it at a thrilling pace. “The Bikeriders” feels like taking a late-night ride on a motorcycle through the Americana melancholy of the Midwest; no one is quite sure where the destination is, but everyone is nevertheless assured that something important lies ahead.
The reason why audience members grow so invested in such a simple story is because the people represented on screen are undeniably authentic, plucked right out of the scarce roads of rural Ohio.
While Hardy and Butler deliver their as-to-be-expected stellar performances — and yes, Butler still kind of sounds like Elvis — it’s Comer who takes the film to an entirely different level. Surrounded by hyper-masculine bikers as Benny moves up in the club’s ranks, she continually toes the line as a suburban, sheltered housewife.
Comer’s character Kathy is undoubtedly intriguing — part of the American in-group but always excluded from crucial decisions due to her status as a ‘60s woman. Comer portrays this dichotomy all while speaking in an overtly Midwesterner accent that brings a unique dimension to her character and places her among early candidates for the next Oscar season.
Apart from the acting, cinematographer Adam Stone drips the images in a faded sepia, reminiscent of days forgotten and nostalgic for a time period that many did not experience firsthand. While at points the story’s speedometer crosses the line into melodrama, for the most part, the story of “The Bikeriders” feels gritty, unreformed and intense — like watching a fistfight in the alley behind a bar.
The film would certainly pair well with 2023’s late standout “The Iron Claw,” a film that follows a similar story structure and feels as though it’s set in the same aesthetic universe.
Modern moviegoers often express desire for a film that feels distinctly genuine, and no other 2024 movie lives up to that wish more so than this year’s surprise hit, “The Bikeriders.”
