'Bikeriders' review: The birth of an American subculture, vividly told

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Jeff Nichols News

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In the exhilarating first half of “The Bikeriders,” writer-director Jeff Nichols is less compelled to build a narrative around the 1960s bike gang, the Vandals, than he is to summon an intoxicating atmosphere reminiscent of the old photographs that inspired the film. The Bikeriders” eventually becomes saddled with heavier plot mechanics.

This image released by Focus Features shows Jodie Comer, left, and Austin Butler in a scene from “The Bikeriders.” This image released by Focus Features shows Austin Butler, left, and Jodie Comer in a scene from “The Bikeriders.” This image released by Focus Features shows Austin Butler, left, and Tom Hardy in a scene from “The Bikeriders.” This image released by Focus Features shows Damon Herriman, left, and Tom Hardy in a scene from “The Bikeriders.

Nichols, a devotee of films like “Hud” and “Cool Hand Luke,” is a filmmaker who works very consciously within classic American idioms. In Butler he has his James Dean, making Tom Hardy his Marlon Brando. Hardy plays Johnny, Benny’s best pal and the one who starts up and presides over the Vandals. Kathy isn’t so sure sure. She watches the growing gang — a completely male bunch — with skepticism and fear for Benny. Sometimes, they throw down purely for fun. They are the original Fight Cub.

As the Vandals’ original ideals disintegrate, it can feel like “The Bikeriders” gets locked into a familiar “Goodfellas”-like structure, but with a telling shift in narrator for a drama that’s ultimately about masculinity. This is a movie that’s juggling a lot of contradictory ambitions. It wants to be authentic but it wants to tell a grand America saga. It wants mythology but also naturalism.

 

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