Directing: B
Acting: A-
Writing: B-
Cinematography: B
Editing: B

The Bikeriders has an odd, very unusual thing working against it—which is Austin Butler. And not because he’s bad, but because well, frankly, he’s too beautiful. It becomes a liability to suspension of disbelief. This is a story about a Chicago motorcycle gang in the sixties, and with Butler’s pretty face taking up so much of the screen space, it doesn’t feel that far from a biker gang in which one of them is a beauty queen.

It’s probably safe to assume Austin Butler himself would not be pleased to hear this. He has already made a name for himself in which he fully immerses himself into wildly divergent roles, from Elvis to Dune Part Two—so much so that, indeed, I have actually taken to seeing him in movies solely for the chance to see him act. Indeed, it’s the sole reason I decided to see The Bikeriders at all: because I love Austin Butler as an actor. It’s ironic that it should be his beauty that becomes the movie’s greatest liability.

I mean, Butler himself and director Jeff Nichols seem to think that the way to make his Benny character more “rugged” is just to give him some facial scruff. Well, he’s got piercing blue eyes, perfectly quaffed hair, and most incongruously, perfectly straight and shiny-white teeth. He’s also a 6-foot tall, perfectly lean, 32-year-old man. How is a little scruff going to combat any of this to make him fit in with all these other scruffy bike riders who look like they haven’t showered in a week?

So here’s the other thing about The Bikeriders, which, as a story, is fine. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it, and honestly the distraction of Austin Butler’s appearance is the only thing that qualifies as a real liability—others might argue the same of either Jodie Comer’s or Tom Hardy’s accents, but on those points, I disagree. The performances, across the board, are actually phenomenal. It’s a level of talent that seems wasted on a story this unremarkable.

The narrative point of view comes from Comer’s character, Kathy, who winds up marrying Benny. She undergoes several interviews with a photo journalist played by Mike Faist (previously seen as Riff in the wonderful 2021 Spielberg adaptation of West Side Story), thus becoming the film’s voiceover narration. The Bikeriders is “inspired by” a book of the same name, and Comer’s vocal performance, with a very distinctive Midwestern accent not used by anyone else in the film, is reportedly uncannily similar to that of the real Kathy the character is based on. Some people are distracted by it; for me, it works.

The leader of The Vandals, the motorcycle club Benny is an eternally stoic member of, is named Johnny and played by Tom Hardy, an actor with similarly immersive methods. His vocal performance is also a pointed choice, giving Johnny a very working-class Chicago accent that is pitched at a slightly higher register. These three characters form a sort of love triangle that is mostly lacking in animosity, the struggle mostly being between Johnny and Kathy vying for Benny’s time and loyalty.

I won’t go so far as to say The Bikeriders bored me, but there were times when it got close. I’d love to see performances this great, from these specific people, perhaps even together as they do have chemistry, in a better story. I just didn’t care that much about the fate of this motorcycle club, the dark arc of which has already long been a matter of public record and told many times, if not about this specific club. It’s a strange thing, for there to be so many great things about a movie, but if the script isn’t quite there, the rest of it doesn’t make as much of a difference as you’d hope. Ultimately The Bikeriders is a film showcasing a ton of talent, but is definitively less than the sum of its parts.

*He’s pretty to look at: which was all I could think about.*

Overall: B