The biker and the cowboy go hand-in-hand as representations of what America means to global culture.
The image of a young man with a leather jacket and the wind blowing through his slicked-back hair while sticking a proverbial middle finger up at authority figures as he zooms by on a motorbike has endured for decades now.
Television shows such as Sons Of Anarchy or movies like Easy Rider, James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause or Marlon Brando in The Wild One helped solidify the image of the rebel biker in the culture, and director Jeff Nichols attempts to deconstruct the allure in The Bikeriders.
Based on the photobook of the same name by Danny Lyons, The Bikeriders delves into the psychology and sociology of why young men are drawn to the paradoxical nature of rebellious motorcycle clubs with a strict set of rules.
David Cronenberg’s masterwork A History Of Violence or Joel Schumacher’s Falling Down explores why men are drawn to the nature of saying “screw the establishment” and letting their primal rage out.
The Bikeriders is singing from a similar hymn sheet.
The film boasts a terrific cast, with Elvis star Austin Butler, Killing Eve star Jodie Comer and everyone’s favourite livewire Tom Hardy heading up the film.
Mike Faist, fresh off Challengers and Jeff Nichols regular Michael Shannon are added in for texture.
The Bikeriders is a somewhat uneven film, but strong performances from Butler, Comer and Hardy keep audiences on board.
Jodie Comer announced herself as a generational talent thanks to her performance on Killing Eve, and the big screen has finally ordained to give her a role worthy of her abilities.
Comer delivers a multi-faceted performance at the heart of The Bikeriders, bringing Frances McDormand in Fargo to mind.
Comer, a Scouser in real life, is fully believable as an “aw shucks” mid-west American woman; after a while, you just forget about the accent and get fully lost in the weeds with Comer.
The Scouser is at the engine of the film, as she is the one recalling her story to Mike Faist as he gathers material for a book he is writing.
Comer is able to convey a lot with her kooky way of speaking, or even just a look on her face.
The Bikeriders is a fabulous performance from Comer, and arguably carries the film on her back.
The Bikeriders boasts a similar energy to something like Heat where you get excited because you know your favourite actors are going to share scenes together.
The Heat comparison is earned as Austin Butler, who shot to fame for his brilliant turn as Elvis in 2022, is the reincarnation of prime Val Kilmer.
A hot young star like Austin Butler playing a rebellious biker sounds like its too good to be true and casting that is too obvious, but Butler manages to surprise us yet again.
There is a quiet, simmering intensity to Butler’s performance; he may not speak much relative to Comer or Hardy, but his presence always looms over the movie.
One early scene has Butler waiting outside Comer’s house overnight in a bid to woo her, and even when he doesn’t speak there is a real aura and intensity to his performance.
A film like this is a perfect next step for Butler; between this and Dune Part Two, Butler is developing a varied and fascinating CV just like Val Kilmer before him.
In his heyday, Val Kilmer had audiences eating out of the palm of his hand; he could switch from pretty boy to a simmering ball of rage at the flick of a switch and Butler has a similar skill set.
The final piece of the jigsaw is the ever-brilliant Tom Hardy, and once again, the idea of Tom Hardy leading a biker gang seems almost too perfect and obvious.
As invoked earlier on, Marlon Brando’s performance in The Wild One helped codify what the biker looked like in pop culture and the film shows Hardy’s character being entranced by Brando while watching the film on TV.
Hardy’s performance is in the spirit of a classic Brando or young Al Pacino performance.
Tom Hardy doing a weird voice is what audiences have come to expect – here he sounds like he has based his voice on Moe from The Simpsons, itself a Pacino pastiche.
To bring it back to A History Of Violence or Falling Down, the film uses Hardy as the avatar for what happens when a man with a normal wants to break the tedium and banality of everyday life.
You get the sense that Hardy is happiest when he’s at the clubhouse or hanging with his biker mates, and has created this world as an escape from the post-war tedium of suburbia.
Hardy has no interest in polo shirts, BBQs and white picket fences, he wants to get down and dirty.
The first 45 minutes of The Bikeriders promises a film it can’t quite match (or as we call it in the industry, the Babylon paradigm) but there is an undeniable power and energy to this film we haven’t seen from mainstream cinema in quite some time.
Sometimes, brilliant actors can help paper over the cracks.
The Bikeriders is in this halfway house where it’s not quite the classic it strives to be, but it’s also a cut above the average film that plays in your local cinema.
Over 50 years on from Easy Rider (which gets shouted out in the film) or the heyday of James Dean, the leather jacket-wearing young man is still a powerful image that has endured, and The Bikeriders does a solid job of making it palpable for the iPhone generation.