Inspired by Danny Lyon’s 1967 photography book of the same name, writer/director Jeff Nichols’s The Bikeriders depicts the rise and fall of the Vandals Motorcycle Club, a fictional version of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club. Told through a series of interviews conducted by Danny (Michael Faist), the talented cast elevate a familiar gangster story of Benny (Austin Butler) caught between his wife Kathy (Jodi Comer), who eventually wants him to quit the life, and Johnny (Thomas Hardy), the club’s founder and leader, who wants Benny to take over the club.
Buy The Bikeriders Blu-rayKathy is the focus of most of the interviews, serving as the viewer’s entry into this world. She is invited to a biker bar by a friend. Uncomfortable with most the bikers, who are crude and direct towards her, Benny intrigues her, and she him. They marry five weeks later.
Benny is devoted to the Vandals beyond reason. When Johnny is talking to a rival gang leader, Benny rushes in to punch the guy in the face, unaware that the situation had been diffused. Having a drink in a bar, he is told they don’t allow gang clothes. Refusing to take off his vest, he is beaten to the point where he almost loses his foot.
Johnny starts the club after watching Marlon Brando in The Wild One. It starts as an outlet for men to ride motorcycles. As they grew in members, they realize they can do whatever they want. This is evidenced when they burn down the bar where Benny was attacked, and the authorities fear moving in while the Vandals watch. Johnny grants new club chapters across the country, leading to an organization filled with people that don’t know each other nor the danger they bring, from drug-fueled Vietnam veterans to a kid (Toby Wallace) Johnny previously turned away.
Like many of these type of stories, the freedom experienced by those breaking society’s norms is initially invigorating, but rebelling for its own is not a sustainable ethos nor is committing serious felonies. The club grows in notoriety. More people want to take part, want the freedom to do whatever they want, even when that intrudes on other’s freedoms.
Unfortunately for those who have seen a few gangster pictures, The Bikeriders‘s plot plays out too predictably, even though Nichols’s tells the story in a non-linear manner, an approach that doesn’t add anything. Adding to the film’s recognizable feel is direction that has been far too influenced by Scorsese movies. The cast makes the film worth watching and those fresh to the genre may better appreciate it.
