The Bikeriders movie review: Riding a motorcycle has never looked cooler

The 2023 AFI film festival continued with the 20th Century Fox movie The Bikeriders. The film was written and directed by Jeff Nichols, known for films like Midnight Special, Loving, and Mud.

The Bikeriders is based on the 1967 photobook of the same name about a fictional motorcycle club in the Midwest. The film follows the story of the lives of the club members and how the growth threatened the integrity of the club. It stars Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, and Jodie Comer.

The film begins with us meeting Kathy (Comer), sitting down and talking to Danny Lyon (Mike Faist) about her husband, Benny (Butler). She tells the story of how reckless Benny is. We see him sitting in a bar enjoying a drink when two men walk up and tell him he can’t wear those colors (Club Jacket) in their bar. He has a few choice words for the two men that lead to a big fight.

We fall back in time when we find out how club leader Johnny (Hardy) started the club and how it formed into this larger-than-life group. Like any club, the idea stemmed from a random idea of Johnny watching a movie, and the rest was history.

As the Vandals Chicago grows, so does the pressure on Johnny to tame these men. He isn’t getting any younger and is looking for someone to replace him at the top of the club, and he has only one man in mind, Benny. However, Kathy has other plans for her husband, but she knows she isn’t winning the battle with Johnny or Benny when it comes to anything club-related.

Like the TV series Sons of Anarchy watching the groups form, share that camaraderie and family-like atmosphere is where it shines. Nichols perfectly depicts this in a way with the Vandals Chicago that makes it easy for you to invest in this family. He also wisely doesn’t put you in a situation where you choose right or wrong. Each of these men is severely flawed in their own way, and that imperfection makes for perfection in the film.

Austin Butler again proves that he is a movie star in The Bikeriders

If you look back in time, you can find a few performances of actors that you said, “That is a movie star.” Whether that was Brad Pitt in Thelma & Louise or John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, the moment they came onto this screen, they had “IT.” We saw that moment with Austin Butler in his award-winning performance as Elvis Presley in Elvis.

When we first see Butler as Benny, you see that “IT” factor, and he doesn’t speak a word. You have the luscious locks, the perfect amount of scruff, and the stargazing stare that makes you lose yourself in him. You can’t teach “IT,” and within every role, Butler expands his star power.

More on the performances, Butler is perfect in Benny, but so is Jodie Comer as Kathy and Tom Hardy as Johnny. These three are the backbone of the film and the chemistry shared amongst these three and the entire cast is the reason a lot of the film works.

I mentioned Jeff Nichols nailed the camaraderie of the Vandals biker club, but he also got the viciousness that comes along with the club. The fight sequences throughout this film were expertly shot, but more importantly, they depicted how these battles often play out. For example, when one of the Vandals members challenges Johnny for the top spot, we see these two men beat the hell out of each other, but the moment the fight is over, they are drinking a beer together.

Every so often, a movie comes along that feels like it was made for me, and that is The Bikeriders. 20th Century Fox took the film off their slate as they await the ending of the strike, which I believe was a wise move because if they release this film in, say, March/April with a full-on press tour with this cast, this film will make them a lot of money. It has a massive general audience appeal to the film, and this needs to be seen on the big screen on the night it opens.

The Bikeriders was scheduled to come out in December but has been pulled due to the strikes. When a release date is set in stone, we will update you.