The Bikeriders Turns History Into Horror

The Bikeriders was written and directed by Jeff Nichols, who is well known for his Southern and Midwestern storytelling. He’s great at focusing on the daily, seemingly mundane experiences of his characters, and this film is no exception. Here, we see how ordinary guys form a motorcycle club, and how that club escalates to become a ruthless, terrifying gang that the original founders don’t even recognize. 

The Bikeriders is based on the book of the same name that was written by Danny Lyon, a photojournalist who followed a motorcycle club known as the Chicago Outlaws for a few years, riding his own Triumph motorcycle behind the men on Harley Davidsons he hoped to write about. In the style of Hunter S. Thompson, Lyon hoped to live among the Outlaws and tell their story with depth and compassion. The film that resulted from his book does a pretty good job of doing just that. 

The film opens on Danny (Mike Faist) interviewing a young woman, Kathy Bauer (Jodie Comer) in a laundromat while she talks about the last year of her life with the Vandals of Chicago, a local motorcycle club. She details the way she met bike rider Benny Cross (Austin Butler), how the two fell in love, but how she was also incredibly put off by the club. Comer does a great job of portraying this Midwestern woman of the freewheeling 60s, complete with her thick Midwestern accent and her penchant for cigarettes. 

The Bikeriders is told through the eyes of Kathy — how she loves wild Benny, and how the club’s president, Johnny Davis (Tom Hardy) is relentless about protecting his club. We learn that Johnny started the club as a motorcycle racing club. He was just a working class truck driver with a wife and kids who wanted to hang out with the guys and talk about motorcycles. It was a simple club centered around men being the bikeriders they wanted to be. 

We meet the other original members of the club like Johnny’s right hand man Brucie (Damon Herriman), Cal (Boyd Holbrook), Zipco (Michael Shannon), and a few others. This club of the bikeriders is rough and tumble enough, but the guys mostly hang out in their bar, go for long rides, and hold large picnics where they all get together, drink beer, smoke, and get into manly brawls. Kathy describes these guys as “crazy,” in her interview, as she yells at two of them sitting on her couch to get their bikes off her grass. 

We get a classic Tom Hardy scene where he fights a guy, Big Jack, who challenges his rule. Johnny bites the giant man’s leg and breaks his little finger, only to go along with what Big Jack wanted in the first place. Austin Butler is mostly the strong silent type in his role as Benny, loathe to give up his membership with the bikeriders, yet always returning to Kathy, even when she insists he chooses between her or the club. 

REVIEW SCORE

I think the most interesting thing about The Bikeriders is how this club went from men being men and just letting off steam to men becoming increasingly violent, leaning toward assault, and hurting their own members. And yet, this transition is the least well-done part of the film. It seems to take place all of a sudden and then the movie ends. 

But, of course, we can’t always have it all. I’d still encourage film lovers to go see The Bikeriders in theaters while it’s still making its rounds. I mean, Tom Hardy rarely disappoints, after all.