The Bikeriders rides high with committed performances from Tom Hardy and Austin Butler and its enveloping 1960s biker culture costumes and set design. It isn’t without its bumps in the road though, and often makes you wish they embarked down more roads left untraveled. 

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Tom Hardy fits like a glove into his role of Vandals founder and leader Jimmy, a soft spoken, menacing presence, yet charmingly gruff and loyal to his ragtag ensemble of societal outcasts who found a home with The Vandals. Austin Butler brings an effortless bravado to his performance akin to James Dean, as Benny, a fearless and carefree member of the crew who wears his jacket like he was born with it on.

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Hardy and Butler have an electric chemistry on screen and the movie serves well as a hangout movie in their universe where you feel like part of the gang. Jodie Comer’s performance as Kathy is admirable but her thick and ‘unique’ take on a Chicago accent was incredibly distracting throughout the film. It didn’t help matters that her narration is used throughout as a storytelling device. I can’t fault her for trying to replicate the ‘real life’ Kathy, but I would have fully endorsed this lapse of realism for the sake of my eardrums. Ok, I promise I’m done talking about the accent…FORGET-A-BOUT-IT (or whatever the Chicago equivalent of that saying is).

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Besides the above rant about that thing I promised not to bring up anymore, while Comer and Butler have a pleasant enough chemistry on screen, I much preferred the ‘Bromance’ between Jimmy and Benny and wish there were more scenes of these two talking about anything and everything.

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The supporting cast is great as well and they do just that (support). Norman Reedus and Michael Shannon both appear in memorable and amusing roles with their own unique quirks despite their very limited screen time. This is an area of the film that left me wanting to spend more time with these characters, but the film instead focuses on Benny and Kathy’s blossoming relationship. Without spoiling anything, I also felt there were multiple setups that lacked the payoff they were building up to. You’re led to believe an epic showdown will unfold but are instead left with an anticlimactic ending that was somehow predictable, unpredictable and underwhelming all at the same time.

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The Bikeriders has enough charm, style, production value, and Hardy and Butler badassery to keep most entertained, but it may leave some feeling the kickstand was kicked out from underneath them too soon.