Movie Review: 'The Bikeriders' Starring Austin Butler

The Bikeriders (2024)

Directed by Jeff Nichols

Written by Jeff Nichols

Starring Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer

Release Date June 21st, 2024

Published June 23rd, 2024

Austin Butler stars in The Bikeriders as Benny. We are told in an early scene that women avoid Benny because he's a tragedy waiting to happen. He is known for repeatedly crashing his bike and for being a hothead regarding his motorcycle club, The Vandals. We never actually see him crash his motorcycle. Not one time. So I am not sure why that was introduced as a defining trait but, whatever. Naturally, being told to stay away from Benny is every woman's weakness and thus Kathy (Jodi Comer), a very non-biker chick, goes for him in a big way. Kathy has a home and a good job and she wants nothing more than to take the wild and free Benny and domesticate him.

The Vandals didn't set out to be a motorcycle gang. Initially, they were about motorcycle racing but Johnny (Tom Hardy), wanted something more and The Vandals were born as a group of friends who like riding, drinking and fighting together while wearing variations on the same jacket. Johnny was literally inspired by seeing a Marlon Brando movie, The Wild One, on TV one night. From there, he built the gang, bought a bar for them to hang out in, and rode motorcycles all over the Midwest, often using intimidation to keep people from messing with his friends.

Naturally things get out of hand and the violence becomes more than Johnny can handle. He wants to get out and he see's Benny as the man who can take his place as he recedes back into family life. But Benny, he's not the leader type. He just fucks off and leaves Johnny holding the bag. Benny also leaves Kathy behind, riding off into the sunset having made little more impact in the movie beyond being so good looking that everyone wants him. Benny, I guess, is symbolic of the beauty of being free, but the end of the movie seems to render that reading as deeply incorrect. So, then, what was the point of Benny? Who knows? Austin Butler has little dialogue and the character is little more than a symbol for what other characters want out of life.

When Benny isn't on screen Kathy is talking about him in the film's narrative device. Mike Faist co-stars in The Bikeriders as Danny, a photo-journalist who embeds himself in The Vandals in hopes of writing a book about motorcycle gang culture. His interviews with Kathy are what push the middling plot forward, jumping through time willy nilly to touch on the things that led to the downfall of The Vandals. Comer is speaking with a deeply unnatural accent that I believe is supposed to be a Chicago accent but it's more distracting than anything else. The voice renders her matter of fact voiceover at odds with the seeming seriousness of the story she's recounting.

Tom Hardy mumbles and rumbles his way through The Bikeriders. His arc is that of a normal guy who gets in over his head as his desire to hang out and ride motorcycles with his friends becomes a growing criminal concern. Are we supposed to admire him? Pity him? How does Johnny feel about his life and the path he's on? Hardy seems perturbed and put out but not so much that he has a desire to do anything about the predicament he builds for himself.

We are told that he wants to be more like Benny, free of the restrictions of societal expectations, free to do whatever he pleases without feeling guilt or obligation. But then, why does he want Benny to be the leader of The Vandals? It's as if he admires Benny's freedom so much that he wants to take that freedom from him. Being the leader is a burden and he's eager to give that burden to the most symbolically free character he knows?

There is a scene early in The Bikeriders where Benny celebrates winning Kathy's love by riding his motorcycle through a series of stoplights and intersections. He's refusing to stop or even slow down as police chase after him for his traffic violations. Eventually, Benny runs out of gas and the cops arrest him. When asked about why he did it, Benny doesn't have an answer. Johnny loves it. For Johnny, Benny being defiant and unconcerned about the consequences of his actions is romantic and exciting. He longs to be like Benny as the constraints of being a leader of The Vandals, a husband, and a father, appear to hold him in place.

But the symbolic freedom that the movie intends to communicate with this sequence feels hollow to me. Instead of admiring Johnny's free spirit, I was annoyed for the people he inconvenienced with his selfishness. I was annoyed on behalf of the people who had to spend good money to get Benny and his motorcycle out of jail and impound. Benny doesn't have a job so he didn't pay the subsequent fines. He's gravely inconvenienced everyone around him and it's framed as him being symbolic of freedom. For me, it's symbolic of how being extraordinarily handsome makes other people want to do things for you, no matter the needless expense and his overall ingratitude for the sacrifice.

Find my archive of more than 20 years and more than 2000 movie reviews at SeanattheMovies.blogspot.com. Find my modern review archive on my Vocal Profile, linked here. Follow me on Twitter at PodcastSean. Follow the archive blog on Twitter at SeanattheMovies. Listen to me talk about movies on the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast. If you have enjoyed what you have read, consider subscribing to my writing on Vocal. If you'd like to support my writing, you can do so by making a monthly pledge, or by leaving a one-time tip. Thanks!