The Bikeriders stars Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, and Tom Hardy as Butler’s Benny struggles between being a Vandal and his love for his dear Kathy.

I went into the film a little apprehensive due to the lukewarm responses the film has been given so far. However from the first scene, Jeff Nichols is able to put you right into that era of riders and make you understand just how lonely this club truly is. The opening of Butler’s Benny alone at a bar with his Vandals gear head to toe pulls you in right away, even as two rough looking guys approach him, commanding him to take those colors off. “You’ll have to kill me” an unbothered Butler chirps back and in that 90 seconds that follows, lays the groundwork of what this film is all about. This bike riding gang dubbed ‘The Vandals’ cares more for this way of life even more than their own families.

‘The Bikeriders’ is also elevated by a cast that was perfectly casted. While Hardy shines as always, Comer gives an incredible performance as the tortured Kathy, a fool in love with Butler, knowing damn well it’ll be hard for him to change. The movie is told through Comer’s lens as she is interviewed by ‘Challengers’ star Mike Faist, a photographer and inspiring writer of what this biker gang is all about. Comer shines as she tells the story almost as a folk tale, describing each of the riders quirks. Whether that is eating bugs for Cockroach, portrayed by Emory Cohen, or Hardy’s Johnny, the leader of the Vandals and his inspiration from Marlon Brando. Faist has less to work with, mainly acting as a way for others to give exposition or provide details on what has happened or about to. Michael Shannon and Faist share a great moment in the film, discussing college versus work, and a good insight to what Shannon’s instability originated, developed further on when he discusses his failure to enlist in Vietnam. Norman Reedus has a blast as the disgusting Funny Sonny, hard to recognize as he is even more disheveled looking than his usual Daryl Dixon garb.

Nichols excels in making you root for the characters despite their flaws and evil roots, but the film does stall, like Benny’s bike on the farmland interstate, towards the end of the 2nd act. The flood of new faces post Vietnam increase the tension between the gang, and as Johnny pushes more and more for Benny to take over the mantle, Benny goes to leave it all behind, including his beloved Kathy. Benny abandons the gang after a critical scene with Johnny, involving a hard decision to make regarding a member and in that moment is when Benny realizes he’s not made for this work. As Johnny realizes it too, an already stoic figure becomes even more apathetic and faces a hot-shot challenger whom he pissed off earlier in the film. If it wasn’t obvious already, Johnny suffers an ill fate in this altercation, being blindsided and shot by the boy in a fit of rage and for control.

What I find most interesting towards the end of the film is who rode for the love of driving and who rode for the love of the people. A few of the smaller characters continue on, riding with the new leader of the gang, while the ones most close to Johnny disperse and go their own ways. For Benny, that’s coming back and reconciling with Kathy, and accepting Johnny’s fate whom he feels partly responsible. Whether he did it for Benny, I’m not sure, but Johnny’s death creates the out Benny was searching for in the 3rd act, and a new interview by Danny with Kathy ends with her happily looking outside at Benny, settled in Florida. However looking back at Kathy, after she told Danny that Benny is done with riding, Benny doesn’t crack a smile until the sounds of motorcycles start revving in the distance.

Overall, I found ‘The Bikeriders’ was elevated by the cast who fleshed out every scene and every character. Nichols does a good job building the atmosphere and letting each moment, good and bad, breathe. I do recommend this film and do plan for myself to go riding with the vandals again.

3.5/5