The Bikeriders (dir. Jeff Nichols)

By: Adam Freed

Lost somewhere in mangled wreckage of The Bikeriders, Jeff Nichols' gritty origin tale of 1960’s Chicago biker gang “The Vandals,” is a story of adult males searching desperately for a sense of belonging.  The sense of disarray within the leather and asphalt drama mustn’t be pointed in the direction of its stars Tom Hardy and Austin Butler, who both offer superb performances of the limited material with which they had to work.  Plagued by a hazy timeline, a script bereft of humanity, and a story funneled through the film’s weakest character, The Bikeriders may stand alone as the summer’s biggest let down.

The feeling of disappointment created by Nichols’ film is rooted in the limitless talents of his cast, of which he and his script ask so little.  Epitomizing the criminal talent squandering at play is two time Academy Award Nominee Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road), a gravitationally gifted screen presence, who in a single soliloquy offers a soul crushing story of his failed attempt to enlist in the U.S. armed forces in order to serve in Vietnam.  In this one fleeting moment Shannon masterfully unearths the rejected hearts of each of his leather clad brethren. Instead of building on the humanity revealed behind the eyes of society’s castaways, The Bikeriders devalues a golden moment, and Shannon’s character is cast into ensemble obscurity for the remainder of the starcrossed film.

There are few actors as uniquely alluring as Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant), who as Vandals club president Johnny, presents a pendulum like performance that vacillates between alluring and abhorrent.  In support of Hardy is Austin Butler (Dune: Part 2, Elvis), who very quickly has ascended into the strata of the must watch performers.  Here as Benny, Butler plays closer to James Dean, with an equal gift for disappearing into a character the way that few can.  Despite this embarrassment of acting riches, Nichols’ meandering story never manages to harness the horsepower provided by Hardy and Butler.

The final death blow to The Bikeriders is the confounding decision to frame the story’s narrative around an ongoing interview of Benny’s wife, Kathy.  Kathy’s paper thin character is played close to parody by Jodie Comer (Free Guy), who seems to have mastered her “Chicaaaago” accent by studying tape of SNL’s The SuperFans.  While Comer’s comedically offensive accent is of her own design, the actress is not at fault for her one dimensional character being forced to act as conduit to the film’s narrative.  There is enough meat on the bone to this biker gang origin story that may have rendered it salvageable in the hands of a more visually ambitious director, as is, The Bikeriders is all revved up with nowhere to go.

Target Score: 4/10  A promising story brimming with intrigue quickly runs out of gas and in so doing devalues a pair of compelling performances by stars Austin Butler and Tom Hardy.  Ultimately, Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders is a low speed cruise to nowhere.