Tom Hardy, Austin Butler, and Jodie Comer lead the charge in Jeff Nichols’ homage to 1960s motorcycle culture in ‘The Bikeriders”
By James Verniere/Boston Movie News
Writer-director Jeff Nichols of the half-baked entries “Mud” (2012) and “Midnight Special” (2016) delivers this generation’s “The Wild One.” Unfortunately, Nichols’ film, which begins in 1966 and might as well be called “The Wild Ones” instead of “The Bikeriders,” lacks the context or cultural resonance of that 1953 post-WWII social drama featuring a young Marlon Brando in an iconic role.
In fact, Kathy (Jodie Comer), Nichols’ female lead, reveals in her narration that Johnny (Tom Hardy), a middle-aged husband, father, and truck driver from Ohio, was inspired to create his motorcycle gang, The Vandals, after watching “The Wild One” on TV. It’s a dopey moment in an otherwise unremarkable movie that does have a few moments of grace and power (and some nice bikes), thanks to its talented cast.
As Benny, the film’s male lead, Austin Butler of “Elvis” fame brings a lot of James Dean-like power and physical beauty to a role that needs much more fleshing out. Who is this guy, really, beyond being the young, handsome man on a motorcycle that both Kathy and Johnny lust after and compete for (“He’s mine”)? Comer, from Liverpool, works hard on her 1960s Ohio accent, but the sing-song result grates. As Johnny, Hardy, from Hammersmith, West London, sounds like a cross between Brando and Bugs Bunny. However, he brings undeniable pathos, bravado, and even nobility to his role.
The film takes its premise from the 1967 photography book by Brooklyn-born Danny Lyon, played by “Challengers” star Mike Faist, who can claim membership to the new group of Hollywood’s “hot rodent men.” Danny interviews Kathy throughout the action, and we watch the story unfold in flashbacks. The action begins with Benny, who is drinking alone, getting attacked by two burly men in a bar who demand he remove his colors. The ensuing fight is nasty, brutish, and short, featuring a near amputation. In retaliation, Johnny burns down the bar, presumably killing the attackers, though this is left unclear. Much of “The Bikeriders” is similarly vague.
One of the subplots involves a young would-be gang member man from Milwaukee, played by the talented Toby Wallace (“Babyteeth”). Nicknamed The Kid, of course, the young man belongs to a new generation of Vandals and is identified as “crazy,” as opposed to his merely badly-behaved forerunners.
Yes, that is Michael Shannon as the untidy Latvian Zipco, who lives to drink himself into a stupor. Butler seems to have finally shed his Elvis persona. His character, Benny, may be a man without a past, but he exudes charisma even when simply taking a drag on a cigarette. This guy is a star.
You sit there waiting for someone to cue up “Leader of the Pack.” Instead, we get the lesser-known “Out in the Streets” and “I’ll Never Learn” by the immortal Shangri-Las. The film’s music supervisors do an excellent job of selecting authentic doo-wop, country rock, gospel, and pop tracks.
These motorcyclists forego helmets and eye protection, however insane it looks to us today. Between the street and their skulls is nothing but attitude, which is to say nothing of any consequence. Is that a cotter pin earring dangling from the earlobe of gearhead Cal (Boyd Holbrook)? A “family picnic” sets the stage for a vicious fistfight between Johnny and a big bruiser, who challenges him for, well, the title of leader of the pack. The conflict between the reckless new crew and the older, more laid-back original gang members feels like “The Godfather” lite. However, Cream’s “I Feel Free” (1966) is a perfect choice, and the rhythmic thump-thump of the vintage Harley-Davidson engines shouldn’t be underestimated either. But then Zipco goes on a phony, shrill rant against his “pinko” brother, who dares to wear shorts and tennis shoes and go to college. These Vandals are not thinkers; they are proudly compulsive, unashamedly brutish cavemen on wheels of rubber instead of stone.
The storytelling is as stripped down as the choppers. “The Bikeriders” makes “Sons of Anarchy” look like Shakespeare. What it needs is an infusion of Katey Sagal’s Lady Macbeth. Two-thirds in, Norman Reedus (“The Walking Dead”), a genuine biker, shows up as a rival gang member from California. Speaking of which, the late visionary Roger Corman revitalized the biker genre with “The Wild Angels” in 1966, starring Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern, and supposedly bona fide Hells Angels. Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern would later upstage Corman with the more culturally attuned, musically superior, game-changing “Easy Rider” (1969), to which “The Bikeriders” clumsily pays homage. Get your motor runnin’.
‘The Bikeriders’
Rating: R for language throughout, violence, some drug use, and brief sexuality.
Cast: Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy, Austin Butler
Director-writer: Jeff Nichols
Running time: 116 minutes
Where to Watch: In theaters everywhere on Friday
Grade: B-
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