"THE BIKERIDERS" - REVIEW
The work of writer/director Jeff Nichols is marked by patience. He takes time in between movies, and he takes time with the storytelling in his movies. His perfect filmography includes the scrappy revenge saga SHOTGUN STORIES, the man-vs.-nature/mental health thriller TAKE SHELTER, the charmingly Twainesque coming-of-age tale MUD, the sci-fi father-son drama MIDNIGHT SPECIAL, and the true interracial marriage story LOVING. All patient, all understated, all excellent.
So one might fairly think: what could a thoughtful, patient and mannered filmmaker such as Nichols possibly bring to a chronicle of a subculture marked by motorcycles, machismo and mayhem?
The answer is: he just brings his voice. It is a quieter, more low-key voice, but one so strong and specific that even though you may have to lean in a little, you can still hear it over the thunderous rumble of a Harley-Davidson.
At first, THE BIKERIDERS—Nichols’ sixth feature film, and his first in eight years—plays like a screenplay developed for Martin Scorsese, but then directed by Clint Eastwood. It’s inspired by a photo essay book by Danny Lyon (represented in the film as a photojournalist played by CHALLENGERS star Mike Faist). It follows a more episodic structure with a loose rise-and-fall arc akin to something like GOODFELLAS, and its treatment is very matter-of-fact. Over the course of the film’s not-quite two hour runtime (hallelujah), we absorb the motorcycle culture of the Midwest in the mid-1960s, through Danny’s series of interviews with Kathy (Jodie Comer, in an absolutely fabulous dialect), a sweet but no-nonsense young woman who inexplicably falls under the spell of Benny (Austin Butler, in a performance that’s almost all looks and physicality and, per usual for a Jeff Nichols protagonist, loaded with understated depth), a young man who sees his motorcycle as an extension of his own body, and the club he belongs to—The Vandals out of Chicago—as the only brotherhood he’s ever known.
In fact, brotherhood and loyalty run deep here. Like a Scorsese movie, we meet a lot of misfits who don’t belong anywhere else, and they are all played by a Murderers’s Row of some of our finest character actors, including Tom Hardy in all his Tom Hardiness as Johnny, the stoic yet volatile leader of the pack (comparisons to Marlon Brando, directly referenced on a television playing THE WILD ONE, are apt). We also get Nichols regulars Michael Shannon and Paul Sparks, as well as Emory Cohen, Norman Reedus, Boyd Holbrook, Beau Knapp, Karl Glusman, Happy Anderson and Damon Herriman. (Where is Ben Foster in this lineup? Maybe he was sick that day?)
The character development and aesthetic details are absolutely exquisite, but because Nichols is so subtle, it can be a little difficult at first to truly connect to anyone in the first hour of the film. However, Nichols rewards your patience with a dynamite second half that is all character, building momentum as it goes. The movie does an excellent job at breaking down our preconceived notions of motorcycle culture and the people who are attracted to it, and many of the reasons why that need for brotherhood has such a strong pull. For some, like Michael Shannon‘s character Zipco, it’s about being an “undesirable“ and being turned away by the Army to fight in Vietnam, and resenting the college kids who don’t have to go. For another young man only credited as The Kid (Toby Wallace), seen only in snippets at first, we witness a product of his environment, namely the broken home he comes from. For Johnny, it’s the greater excitement of having an outlet outside of family life, of starting something bigger than himself where he feels like he can be himself, and watching it grow. And for guys like Benny, it’s much more pure: he just loves to ride.
As the gang grows and more chapters form around the Midwest, so does their impact. Once disenfranchised veterans return from Vietnam in search of belonging, the original intentions become confused, which breeds increasingly violent crime. This is where Nichols wisely shifts away from focusing squarely on the crimes themselves, and more on the repercussions, and how this unsustainable growth impacts the relationships of all involved. Our empathy grows across-the-board, even while we don’t condone their actions. What was once safe harbor for these men has now grown into something they can’t control. As Johnny says late in the film, “you can put everything you got into a thing… but it’s gonna do what it’s gonna do.”
I found this film to be utterly absorbing. A fascinating chronicle of certain men and women during a certain time, seeking liberation—and occasionally finding it—on the highways and among the messiness of human beings, in a society not built for them. The audience I sat with was about half film people and half motorcycle people. This is a film for them, but I hope others will discover it as well. THE BIKERIDERS was originally slated for release last December by Disney-owned 20th Century Studios, who then shelved it suddenly, even after releasing posters and trailers. Focus Features took over and is releasing it this Friday, and given this unusual summer of moviegoing, I hope that strategy helps soup up the engine and give it plenty of throttle for a long journey ahead.
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Zach is a proud member of the Minnesota Film Critics Alliance (MNFCA). For more info about Zach, the organization, or to read other great reviews from other great Minnesota-based film critics, click here: https://mnfilmcriticalliance.wordpress.com/