Written and directed by Jeff Nichols, “The Bikeriders” is a fictional story inspired by Danny Lyon’s photo-book of the same name. Now, if you think that a 100 page book consisting mainly of photographs sounds like it would be a difficult to adapt into a nearly two hour feature film, then you would be correct. Nichols does a great job of capturing the aesthetic of a 1960s American biker gang, but past the surface level visuals this movie doesn’t have much to offer in terms of plot or characters. Majorly lacking on both fronts, “The Bikeriders” is remarkably shallow. It’s like the movie equivalent of watching someone do a burnout. The gas gets revved, the exhaust coughs up a lotto smoke and loud noises, people think it looks really cool…but nothing actually happens. A crime-thriller that features the least amount of crime or thrills I’ve ever seen, this movie cold have easily been edited down to a solid 90 minutes. With just a half hour of runtime left things finally begin to heat up a little but sadly, the finale is as unsatisfying as the movie’s first two acts.
The time and effort that went into making “The Bikeriders” a feature film should have instead gone into making a documentary based on Lyons’s book. Or at the very least, a themed photoshoot for star Austin Butler. Butler, long with co-stars Jodie Comer and Tom Hardy give perfectly fine performances, it’s just a bummer to think about how much more incredible they could have been had ten been given something go substance to work with. At least there’s some entertainment to be found in the STRONG accent choices Hardy and Comer commit to. While the former is simply doing his best Marlon Brando in “The Godfather” impression, the latter delivers all her lines in the most distracting and grating Midwestern accent. Hey, at last Norman Reedus gets to show up and play his most biker-y role to date.
2/5
Review by: Luke Elisio