The Bikeriders (2023)

The Bikeriders looks and sounds like the coolest scrapbook in Chicago, and its plot is just as loose. Jeff Nichols tells it through interviews: Mike Faist’s Danny Lyon, a photography student, rides with the Vandals Motorcycle Club and gets the story from Jodie Comer’s Kathy, who married hotheaded member Benny weeks after meeting him. Austin Butler plays Benny, and Tom Hardy plays Johnny, who started the club after seeing Marlon Brando in The Wild One and finds out he can’t steer what he built. As the club spreads and rougher members join, it turns into something none of them signed up for. The charismatic cast and the lived-in grit carry it a long way. You can see the ending coming down the road. It holds an 80% on Rotten Tomatoes and made $36.16 million worldwide on a reported $30 to $40 million. A 6.6 because the faces and the jackets do more work than the script. $872 says you ask your grandparents what they were up to back then and get a story you weren’t ready for.

What works: The cast is magnetic, and Nichols nails the look, sound and texture of a sixties Midwest bike club.

What doesn’t: The story is conventional and episodic, and Kathy’s interview framing keeps the biggest moments at a distance.

Who it’s for: Fans of slow-burn period dramas and anyone who’d happily watch Austin Butler and Tom Hardy lean on motorcycles for two hours.