The Bikeriders
In Jeff Nichols’ listless portrait of a real-life biker gang, gasoline and testosterone mix in a toxic machismo cocktail.
Posers of the road, 1960s’ style: Jodie Comer and Austin Butler
Photo by Kyle Kaplan, Image courtesy of Focus Features
There was a time when middle-aged men with poor hygiene and something more potent than 750cc between their legs were considered cool. In popular culture, Marlon Brando had a lot to answer for as the protagonist of The Wild One (1953), an image that persisted in various guises until the box-office phenomenon of Easy Rider (1969) and, to a lesser extent, in Jonathan Demme’s Angels Hard as They Come (1971). Jeff Nichols’ film, based on Danny Lyon’s photographic work of non-fiction, attempts to pull the fingernails off this grungy, gasoline-fumed phenomenon. And with actors of the calibre of Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Michael Shannon and Tom Hardy on board, the prospect looked mouth-watering. But Nichols’ atmospheric projects too often sound better than they actually are, from his apocalyptic Take Shelter (2011) to the true-life racial drama Loving (2016) – moody, well-acted pieces that ultimately fail to explode into life.
Austin Butler would seem perfect casting as Benny Cross, the insanely gorgeous, stoic biker boy in the image of James Dean. And Mr Charisma/Tom Hardy himself is pure presence as Johnny, the leader of the pack. He ain’t big but his attitude is huge and his slumped posture, cradling a beer, demands consummate respect and awe. And then there’s Jodie Comer in the part of Kathy, the gangsters’ moll who’ll take no truck from nobody, even a flick-knife-wielding bad boy.
“I had nothing but trouble since I met Benny,” Kathy says in a whiny Chicago accent you could ride a Harley on. Yet while both Comer and Butler look the part with bells on, they don’t appear to act in the same space, stranded like two super-yachts on separate bodies of water. The chemistry is zilch.
There’s beer and broads, bikes and brawls, but there’s a lassitude in the telling, a pace in dire need of a shot of adrenaline. One can’t help but wonder what Martin Scorsese might have brought to the bar, whipping up a 4,000rpm BikeFellas of the open road. There are characters here galore, yet not one of them feels like a real person, which some snappy editing and cinematic flourishes might have rendered immaterial. However, Nichols neither provides élan nor true realism, so it’s hard to care or cheer. The film will do no harm to the careers of Comer and Hardy, but Butler is given little to chew on besides a string of smokes and smouldering glances, neither of which provide much to flesh out his character. His Benny Bauer, a fictitious creation, is a blank at the heart of the film, a handsome enigma without a reason or even any apparent source of income.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Mike Faist, Boyd Holbrook, Damon Herriman, Beau Knapp, Emory Cohen, Karl Glusman, Toby Wallace, Norman Reedus, Happy Anderson, Paul Sparks, Will Oldham.
Dir Jeff Nichols, Pro Sarah Green, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Arnon Milchan, Screenplay Jeff Nichols, from the photo-book of the same name by Danny Lyon, Ph Adam Stone, Pro Des Chad Keith, Ed Julie Monroe, Music David Wingo, Costumes Erin Benach, Sound William Files, Dialect coach Victoria Hanlin.
Regency Enterprises/New Regency/Tri-State Pictures-Universal Pictures.
116 mins. USA. 2023. UK and US Rel: 21 June 2024. Cert. 15.
