The Bikeriders
Hey everyone and welcome today we will be talking about the film The Bikeriders. Fun Fact, this film is loosely based on a book of the same name by Danny Lyon and the real Kathy mentioned that when she walked into the bar she saw men with their belly buttons out which explains why you see some men in the bar with just the vest on and no shirt underneath. This film came out in 2024 and stars Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, and Tom Hardy and was directed by Jeff Nichols. So without further ado, let’s get right into it.
The Bikeriders follows a motorcycle club, the Vandals, that starts as a hangout for guys who enjoy motorcycles and shows how over time this little motorcycle club turned into a violent gang that not even their leader could control.
The Bikeriders is a fictional Drama structured as if it is non-fiction. It has similar vibes to Sons of Anarchy, the Outsiders, or Westside Story.
The Bikeriders looked interesting from the trailers due to the cast and I wanted to see what happened in this riding club. Going into the film I knew that at some point the club became a little wreckless and I wanted to know how they got there and the film did a good job of finding a place to end the film with the club basically growing too large to control and the new blood taking over.
Jodie Comer leads the film as Kathy who is telling this story of these bikers to photographer Danny. We see how she gets mixed up with the club and how even though she really wanted to leave, she loved Benny too much to leave without him. It was interesting to see her and Johnny clash throughout the film over Benny with both thinking they knew what was best for him. Through the ups and downs, she stuck by Benny who wasn’t the easiest to stick around and I loved that she often stood her ground. One thing I was confused about was the accent because I thought it was giving more Minnesota but I was unsure if that was the plan. It was interesting to see how Kathy’s ideals changed the more she spent with the Vandals.
Austin Butler plays Benny who was this bad boy who was unhinged but loyal to Johnny and fell in love with Kathy and even got her boyfriend to leave. Throughout the film, he doesn’t say much but we know how much the Vandals meant to him considering how proudly he wore that jacket no matter who tried to stop him. I would’ve loved to learn more about his backstory to understand why he loves riding so much, that the only time he got emotional was when he almost got his foot chopped off and wouldn’t be able to ride anymore. It was like he married Kathy but the through sickness and health vow was taken between him and his motorcycle and I feared that the motorcycle or the club would be the death of him. In the end, he gives it up for a simpler life but you can tell that it’s something that he still thinks about but knows it’s for the best.
Throughout the film, we see how Benny is loyal to Johnny and while he kind of saw him like a big brother, he didn’t want the responsibility of running that club. I assume he saw everything that Johhny had to deal with and realized he enjoyed being a part of the club but running it just wasn’t his thing, he enjoyed being a lone wolf sometimes. One of my favorite scenes which further proved how loyal he is was when Johnny was talking to some guys about a problem at the picnic and it seemed like they might find a solution and Benny wasn’t there and someone jokingly asked Benny if he was going to fight with his boyfriends. Before anyone has a moment to think Benny is sprinting to the group and punches the opposition’s leader in the face and all hell breaks loose until Benny almost kills one of them. This showed me that he really is loyal to the club and Johnny but also needs the club because he doesn’t know when to stop. Later in the film he disappears after the club changes but he comes back when he hears Johhny was killed and at that moment everything clicks and he breaks down in Kathy’s arms which is the only time we see him cry and realize that he needs a change as the club isn’t what it use to be.
Tom Hardy plays Johnny who is the leader of the club and he watches out for everyone making sure that they are protected and calls all the shots. When I was watching this movie I just kept saying dang Tom Hardy is a good actor, he just seemed like this guy who was good at reading people and you really didn’t want to mess with him or anyone he cared about. Johnny seemed like the ideal person to run the group in the beginning because of his willingness to foster this community and he did a good job doing what was best for the club but as the club started to expand to other cities, he slowly lost control which ended up letting snakes into the club he built from the ground up. In the end, I honestly thought he was going to kill someone and end up in jail but we see as the film talked about there was a separation between the old ways and the new ways, and with the old ways they settled disputes with fist and knives and even though that was agreed, the new guy settled it with a gun. His death marked the end of the old ways.
One complaint that I had while watching this film is that in the begining it starts off by saying something along the lines of the film being about a photographer who documented the Vandals which made it seem like Danny would be the center of the film and the film would truly be told from his point of view and we would see him more in the film. Danny who is played by Mike Faist is seen throughout the film, but the film does not focus on him. The movie focuses on the Vandals predominately through Johnny, Benny, and Kathy with the latter being the narrator of sorts and Danny is there occasionally but the film doesn’t revolve around him. It’s not a big complaint but from that note at the beginning of the film, I did think that the focus would be slightly different.
My favorite part was probably the slow build-up of the role that the Kid would play who is portrayed by Toby Wallace. Throughout the film, he keeps popping up and first, we see him stealing with his friends and seeing the Vandals which sparks his interest, and throughout the rest of the film he is trying to join. In one scene he tries to join and Johnny tells him he can join but his friends can’t as a test and without hesitation he says ok which tells Johnny he’s not a right fit because he would leave his friends behind, which as we saw the Vandals are like a brotherhood. The kid cuts Johnny out of anger and Johnny knocks him out and tells him never to come back. Toward the end of the film, we see how the kid has joined a different chapter of the Vandals and challenges Johnny’s leadership, and kills him with a gun instead of the agreed-upon knife which was a payoff I wasnt expecting because I knew he was in the film for a reason but just hadn’t figured out why just yet. As I look back I realize he was so different from Johnny, like Johnny was a family man to begin with and while he committed crimes he did it for the group while this kid seemed to do it just because of his poor home life or to look cool. Johnny built this motorcycle club for likeminded guys to come and look after each other and it fell apart so quickly when this kid took over.
The Bikeriders is an interesting look on how this biker club turned into a gang over time. I thought the performances were great and it was bolstered by some great music and I felt that the film wrapped up nicely.
