The Bikeriders-A Well-Made, Well-Acted, if Basic Crime Film

The Bikeriders has all the makings of a solid rise-and-fall crime movie. The performances are all on point. It took a bit to get used to their accents, but once I did, I began to see all the subtle emotions each actor brings to their performance. Austin Butler's many smoldering facial expressions showcase his character's internalized anger, and Jodie Comer does a great job showing an equal amount of confidence and confusion that her character feels throughout the film. Each actor truly sells their characters' relationship with each other, notably Tom Hardy and Austin Butler, who genuinely sell the almost brotherly-like bond between their characters. 

The film features a unique interview-based structure, framing the story around scenes of Mike Faist's character, interviewing the various characters throughout the film. This structure is unique and allows the film to spice up what is a pretty conventional crime movie. However, the film jumps straight into things, beginning with an interview without any solid introduction to ease the viewer into this story. Because of this, I struggled to connect with and feel engaged with the story throughout the film's first half. 

The film gets better once it reaches the second half, where it reaches the "fall" part of its "rise-and-fall" narrative. Seeing these characters deal with the sudden changes that occur around them and cling to the power they still have was pretty compelling. It leads to a solid ending that, while expected, was still fairly moving. 

The Bikeriders is a pretty conventional rise-and-fall crime movie and features a structure that kept me from engaging with it as much as I wanted. But it's well-acted, and the filmmaking is pretty solid. Jeff Nichols brings a lived-in quality to how he captures Illinois in the 1960s and 1970s with a hazy, filmic look. So, while flawed and not always the most engaging, it's a film that gets better as it goes along.

Now Showing in Theaters in the U.S