It’s been a long while since anyone has heard from Jeff Nichols in filmmaking.

It’s been 7 years since Nichols has come out with a film that he has been responsible for writing and directing. His return to the chair comes in the form of one of 2024’s most anticipated films of the Year entitled The Bike Riders. 

Sons of Anarchy has been off the air for several years however the infatuation of Outlaw motorcycle gangs has not subsided.. For the Genesis of this story, the film takes us back to the 1960s and shows how a fictional Midwestern biker gang based on a real-life biker gang grew to take over the entire country. Jeff Nichols’s Hallmark of Southern Town USA ambiance moved to the Midwest in the suburbs around Chicago.

The Bikeriders is the story of the rise of the Outlaw motorcycle club the Vandals. A club that started as a group of racers looking to kill time on the weekends turned into one of the most notorious 1% clubs in the entire country. The Film is presented as an expose of the rise of the club and the downfall of many of its members.  Jodie Comer plays a woman with a very thick Chicago accent named Kathy.  Kathy gets invited One Percent club party with a group of bikers and that is where she falls in love with one of the members Benny played by Austin Butler.

Benny is known for being unpredictable and having strong loyalty to the club.  The Vandals are run by the group’s leader Johnny played by Tom Hardy.  When the group first started it was very much a small community of locals that rode together as a family.  but as the story progresses, the club’s downfall begins as it expands to other cities around the country.  The group gets too big and as a result, leads to an over-expansion that comes with the introduction of members leading to the downfall of The mission statement for the club.

For context, the vandals in the film are based on the real-life 1% Club The Outlaws. The Outlaws had a historic rivalry with the infamous 1% gang the Hell’s Angels that led to a lot of Bloodshed and violence for many decades.  What this film does is tell the story of how a run-of-the-mill biker game became a 1% Club and the film tells that story through the relationship of Tom Hardy and Austin Butler’s character. 

Hardy plays Johnny the president and founder of the club who got the idea from watching the old 50s television show of creating a biker gang of his own. The early portion of the movie shows the group being very tight-knit like a family and didn’t involve itself in as many legal activities in its early days.  However, it wasn’t until the club began to open up chapters in other cities that things got out of hand.  When the group wasn’t able to police its own from an inner circle,  the ideology of the club began to spread uncontrollably, and more violent members began to take prominent positions leading to the club becoming what we know it today.

Jody Comer is in the movie playing the love interest of Austin Butler and her accent early on can be very jarring for those who are not used to strong Midwestern accents. The story structure is based on a book with the same title by photojournalist Danny Lyon, who rode with the Chicago Outlaws during the 60s.

The film is a time warp back to American culture in the Midwest during the ’60s and 70s and the cinematography of the movie does a great job of making the setting look like another World when compared to today.

The Bike Riders is a very enjoyable story however there are a few notable flaws in the story. The pacing of the story is uneven due to infrequent time jumps in between the story so the presentation isn’t as clean as it should be. The story structure is what holds the movie but the result is still very good.

The strongest aspect of this film is the acting with strong performances from Butler, Hardy, and Comer. The film also provides you with many notable cameos along the way,  when it’s all said and done the bike riders will be at the top of many best-of lists for 2024.

4/5

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