80% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 275 reviews)
Runtime: 116 minutes
Directed by: Jeff Nichols
Starring: Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Mike Faist
From:
Focus/Regency/Universal
I finally saw a movie that was almost viewed theatrically last year. In general, the reviews painted a picture that it wasn’t one of the best pictures released that year. Although, perhaps I still should have—Fox/Disney dumping the movie at the last minute so Focus Features needing to step in instead was ridiculous, no matter what reasons the studio had for doing so.
A sticking point for many: the accents. As sometimes happens, a Tom Hardy voice garnered quite a reaction. In this case (from hearsay; I’ve never viewed The Wild One aside from the clip shown in this film. They made that connection clear) Hardy’s character impersonated an iconic film role during the 60’s-70’s setting of The Bikeriders. Then, there was Jodie Comer’s character Kathy; people on Letterboxd and of course Film Twitter raised Cain about it. Unfortunately for them…
She was based on a real person, <a href=" https://x.com/rvdlovess/status/1813738019809366147">and Comer simply mimicked her… and rather well.</a> That’s a “whoops” for the haters… no offense to the Letterboxd mutuals who feel they are part of that camp!
It is not a movie I loved; after all, it was more a slice of life deal where various characters in the Vandals Motorcycle Club in the Chicagoland area (loosely based on the actual Outlaws Motorcycle Club) were followed for a period of 8 years. It was like they had several leads and no leads at the same time, you know. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised; it was based on an old picture book of the same name. I can’t proclaim it as aimless; in the final act a point was made concerning these uber-macho man who decided to be part of this outlaw movement. The story had its flaws yet Bikeriders was still a movie well worthy of viewing by me.
Yeah, there’s no shortage of needle-drops and that phenomenon isn’t always my favorite trend; in this case there is no complaint. Besides it being retro tunes, many were new even to me, although it was usually the artist/band I was familiar with. It was a groovy soundtrack, in other words. The movie was full of modern performers whose movies I don’t experience enough of: Comer, Hardy, Austin Butler, Michael Shannon, Emory Cohen, Norman Reedus, etc. What a wacky role Reedus had in the film.
The film is not the home run it could have been; even then, the attempt to tell a serious story revolved around rebels from the past and for my tastes, avoided many of the modern tropes I loathe. As long as the viewer is patient and realize it does come together in the second half when the first half may lead you confused as to its purpose. It addresses masculinity without being “man-hating” (a fear many have over everything now, whether or not they should). If you’re patient, you just might… enjoy the ride.
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