Review of “The Bikeriders”: A breathtaking insight into motorcycle club culture

Jeff Nichols’ The Bikers could come across as a gimmick. Instead, it is a visually stunning look into the club culture of biker gangs in the 1960s. The film focuses on the Vandals, a biker gang from Chicago, and spans years of their life together as a crew.

The film is based on the book of the same name by Danny Lyon and focuses on interviews Danny (Mike Faist) conducted with Kathy (Jodie Comer) and the crew. She became involved with the Vandals when Benny (Austin Butler) met her at a bar one night and fell in love with her. Despite their different personalities, Kathy and Benny fell in love, but she was vocal about what she thought the Vandals needed to change.

The club was run by Johnny (Tom Hardy) and was a group of men who simply loved riding and motorcycles. But as the culture changed, the crew had to deal with people who wanted biker gangs to have more power than they did.

What I love about The Bikers is that it keeps you on your toes. Kathy tells the story from her point of view and you never know exactly what happened to her and Benny’s relationship until the end, but through Kathy’s “outsider” view of the Vandals, we see these men as they really are, rather than a distorted image of them because their Friend tells this story. Kathy isn’t really a friend of the Vandals, she’s Benny’s girl, and that gives us a unique insight into everyone’s personality (for Kathy).

Comer does a wonderful job of capturing Kathy’s Midwestern energy (and accent), and you want to hang on every word she says. But aside from that, The Bikers is simply breathtaking to behold.

Men and their bicycles

There’s nothing better than a man on a motorcycle (for me), so the scenes where the whole club rides together just blew me away. It helps that all these men are at their best and as beautiful as can be, riding motorcycles and just enjoying the brotherhood of the Vandals together. I loved watching Funny Sunny (Norman Reedus) and Cal (Boyd Holbrook) build a friendship and poke fun at each other in the background, so the audience knows how much energy they have when they’re in the foreground.

I loved seeing the whole club riding together with the sun at their backs, and I could have watched this movie and Only could have worked with those scenes. I would have loved it and been happy with it, but instead Nichols gave us a glimpse into Kathy’s point of view, and we have that perspective of what’s going on contrasted with beautiful images of men on motorcycles, and I just couldn’t get enough of it.

It’s a fantastic way to bring a photo/interview novel to life with breathtaking detail. I can’t say enough good things about this film and I just want to live with this club like Danny did and understand everything they go through. I wouldn’t mind a Vandals vest either.