Jeff Nichols is a pronounced figure in American film and has for my money made thus far four very good if not great films, none of which ever lose grip on the blend of realism that Nichols involves into the often extraordinary and often genre shifting plot lines he has penned. The Bike Riders fairs more so in the realm of genre homage than deconstruction however and in that regard is simply one of Nichols most entertaining and most likely crowd pleasing films since Mud. It has the nostalgia and the juxtapositional violence of many the great rewatchable gangster films that it is so very much in the mould of, but does it have the slickness and the overall craft of the best ones? I would fair not, but it certainly can happily reside amongst the best of the solid ones.
Jeff Nichols The
Bike Riders is a peculiar and yet rather straight forward piece of adaptation
coming from a piece of photography fiction from journalist Danny Lyon, paired
with the series of interviews that were conducted alongside the photos that
were taken and compiled. Nichols invents in parts and then wholly creates in
others a world surrounding these pictures and a narrative to involve them,
along with some more genuine information about the individuals sourced through
Lyon’s own research. After the truly inventive way this story started for
Nichols, the ultimate film The Bike Riders is a rather simple rise and
fall tale told across a series of years and although ‘simple’ is not always a
bad thing, it does feel that perhaps in this case the overall tale is missing
just a few secret kicks to push it over the edge. Now this is not to say that
Nichols film isn’t a very enjoyable and very solid film, but for my money the
enjoyment was more or less surface level with the depth of the romances and darkness
of the narrative elements remaining just a touch simplified. Nichols however
knows how to make a very good film and once again he has succeeded, the action
of the film, the tensions and much of the dialogue is great and overall The
Bike Riders is a film that I know I will be rewatching certain elements and
sequences of for a very long time. However as an overall piece one can’t help
but feel again that we have seen far more complex versions of this sort of story
with more interesting focus characters.
The focus characters
are important of course, but this is for the most part an ensemble film and the
ensemble is top to bottom excellent; with Michael Shannon and the likes of Boyd
Holbrook and Damon Herriman showing up for brief monologues or extended sequences
and all offering something different to the film for that period. The bench is
very, very deep and to be honest I don’t think anybody faltered. Norman Reedus
and Toby Wallace both appear later in the film as tone shifters and in both
cases, again, succeed majorly in fulfilling the exact emotion needed for where
and how Nichols deploys them. The film for the most part is told by and
focussed upon Jodie Comer’s character of Kathy and although Comer is her normal
brilliant self, her absolutely no doubt perfect encapsulation of this Kathy’s
real voice is just slightly off to my ear – and after hearing the real Kathy
myself I know it’s perfect, but it just rings a touch false to me. It doesn’t
derail the pure talent that she oozes in every frame I’ve ever seen her in,
including her many frames in this very film, but it is a slightly clawing
element. This is however the very best I’ve seen Tom Hardy in years, although
there is again the easily mockable voice and the typical mumbling, this is a
textured and enthralling turn from Hardy and as aforementioned one of his very
best in years, if not his best ever. Austin Butler is perfect for what he is asked
to do here, as a pure trophy vision of absolute charisma, but wasn’t for my money
actually given very much to do. Now, that again is on purpose I can note, but
on a performance level, it’s not a particularly depthful figure – more so a
still image. Then we remember the foundation of the entire film being a photography
book and maybe something clicks into place, or maybe a generous reach is being
made.
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A 8/10 that at its very best is the most enjoyable sort of fare
you can imagine, it’s entertaining and it’s grizzly and it’s an enthralling
portrait of an entire world in just under two hours. Beyond the change in
perspective and world that we are in, it is however a deeply cliché ridden film
– no less enjoyable because of this, however it is true. Butler, Comer and Hardy
and the vast ensemble among them all do great work and although the framing
device feels more technical than it does natural (and much the same can be said
for Comer herself) – this is a very, very solid film.
P.S. The more I think about it, the more I realise that this film
is not even indebted to Goodfellas, but in nearly every single beat is
the same film just in a different world. I do think it’s homage and a simple
sampling of taste rather than ripping off, much the same as my beloved Boogie
Nights is at its most reductive explanation ‘Goodfellas with porn’.
But Boogie does manage to me anyway feel more inventive and find new
heights above Goodfellas at certain moments. Bike Riders never
gets there for me. But again, we are talking about two of the great films of
the 90’s, if not all time.
- Thomas Carruthers
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