It could be the best of movies, or it could be the worst of movies. Either way, The Bikeriders will finally open in Canadian theatres this weekend, many, many months after we should have seen it.
On the surface, The Bikeriders follows a familiar formula, with tortured-soul youths and tough loners and cynical old guys and a motorcycle club life that takes a turn for the worse. Oh yeah, and there are romantic entanglements as well. Same old, same old, we saw it all before with Sons of Anarchy, right?
(BARF!)
Well, this might be a cut above that FX television series, with its ridiculous plotlines and silly romanticizing of thuggery and glorification of exploitative crime. Although to be clear, The Bikeriders will deal with outlaw motorcycle culture, partly because it’s based on a book that was mostly about the Chicago Outlaws.
While Hunter S. Thompson blazed a gonzo trail with his non-fiction novel Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga, photographer Danny Lyons was riding with the Outlaws around Chicago at roughly the same time (mid-1960s). Lyons got out of the scene at roughly the same time that Thompson did. Where HST wrote a book with only a few photos, Lyons instead published a book of photos with interviews printed at the back. The Bikeriders book was much less sensational than Thompson’s non-fiction novel, but it still burned itself into American moto-psyche, and is still available in print today.
It also inspired this new film titled The Bikeriders, which is obviously inspired by the interviews in the back of the book, as well as the visuals in the photos. The name of the club involved is changed—there’s a new fictional MC called The Vandals, which should fend off lawsuits and death threats. Jeff Nichols directs. Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Mike Faist, and Norman Reedus all appear in the film, which premiered at Telluride last August. Last August! The Bikeriders was supposed to be in theatres last winter, but it was rescheduled and is now coming out June 21, which is this Friday.
As for the content, the trailer shows thuggery and crime, and is frankly not that promising-looking, although the trailer may portray the film as being more stupid than it actually is. The synopsis is roughly the same on Wikipedia, IMDB, etc. The Bikeriders shows The Vandals MC changing from a place for outcasts to hang out, taking a turn towards violence and organized crime.
Does that mean it’s bad for motorcycling? Let’s be honest: Bikesploitation movies have hurt motorcycling’s image, and brought a bunch of wannabe thugs into the scene over the decades. Does The Bikeriders continue that trend? Without seeing it, we can’t say. But we’re sure some of you will indeed go watch it soon, and report back. We want to know: Does this film show the grim end of the criminal lifestyle, like one of those old crime-does-not-pay editions from EC Comics? Or does it promise a lifestyle of speed, violence and sex? From what we’ve heard, that isn’t the case, but if you go see it, please let us know.
