The Bikeriders (2024) - Movie Review 

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If you read the book by Danny Lyon, the movie makes perfect sense. I read the book, listened to the tape interviews from 1965-66. Jodi Comer sounds exactly like the real Kathy. I saw the movie today, and it more than delivered. If you’re a Boomer and were into riding, it was dead on.

As far back as I could remember I always wanted to be a biker.

I loved this movie. I have a feeling that this one is a victim of its marketing.

I totally see your perspective Cody. For me, I enjoy watching documentaries about Gangs and Outlaw motorcycle clubs and a lot of times you find it hard to believe because when they interview people from those groups they will say when they first started how it was a brotherhood, looking out for the community, OK to just have fist fights in the park, blah blah blah. Although I had similar issues with the movie you did, I really enjoyed how they showed that devolution and it actually made me sympathetic to the plight of the group. It was crazy to see how so many factors influenced the group to where they quickly went from cat-calling women to date them and fighting other groups to turn around and have a beer with them, to attempted gang assaults, turning on fellow members, and graduating to guns from fists and knives. I thought they really drove home the “death of the golden age of motorcycle clubs”.

This is what John Teller wanted for the SOA.

I actually saw this movie on Monday because I went to a mystery showing at my local theater. I enjoyed the film. I thought it was a solid enough story of this story spanning several years with actors and an actress I like seeing on screen. Not something that was as good as it could or maybe even should’ve been, but I was engaged from beginning to end.

totally agree. i found myself a little bored in the middle, and every time it built tension or conflict it immediately dies down

I think the issue is most people think it’s about a gang and will dive into all of the crimes they committed but it didn’t start out as a violent gang… it was a club that slowly spiraled into something else and the movie captures that pretty well

Yeah agree with pretty much everything you said. I saw it a few days ago and was really disappointed in the thinness of the plot and almost complete lack of character development. Pacing was off. Also yeah why is Kathy so obsessed with the dude who barely talks to her, does nothing for her and doesn’t even seem to give a damn at all that she almost got assaulted. Doesn’t say one nice thing and acts annoyed when she’s crying about her life almost getting ruined because of him. The end with them too doesn’t make sense either and the love triangle is overdone. It seems like him and Tom should just have been together. Guy fell asleep in the theater and honestly couldn’t blame him.

The movie is great. I can't wait to own it. Sons Of Anarchy is motorcycle science fiction, so I wouldn't exactly hold that on any kind of a pedastle (and yes I watched every minute of that moronic show up until Jax commits suicide in the last episode). I will agree that The Bikeriders is not a movie for people with short attention spans. But it's a soon to be cult classic.

I understand it perhaps being a victim of your own expectation, but it's not on you that much because I had what sounds like the exact same expectation from the marketing. Every trailer is "you have to kill me to get this off" fist fights, running from the cops and burning shit down. It's very easy for someone to hype themselves up for a gritty Sons-ish vibe with a cool 60s twist where a lot of it started. I know that's sort of where I was at. I know a lot of Sons Of Anarchy fans that especially dream of a "First 9" series would see those trailers and that cast and start salivating with the same kind of expectations. Knowing it's a telling of a true story. It makes sense, I guess, and I'm still going to give it a chance, but that marketing and those expectations definitely would have left me with the same disappointed feeling. I'm glad I saw this. Was going to hit the theaters tonight and see it. I may wait now and let this sink in so I watch it with the right mindset. I could probably enjoy it for what it is a lot more that way adjusting my expectations and not being soured by flawed hype for something it's not. MUCH like movies that have been marketed as creature features that aren't that.. that I learned to like after I was done being pissed off. I didn't see what I went to see, lol.

I'm still willing to give this film a chance tbh, if only for the cast and the performances. Great review as always mate! 👍

The film is fantastic ... If your idea of motorcycle clubs or the people in them is SOA (?) .... LOL well dude your go to movie genre should be superhero movies ...the pace and script of this production is a lot closer to reality than an FX series .

Because it wasnt a gang he started a motorcycle club for wayward men that loved to ride and needed a place to belong. It got away from him when more people began to join and became more a motorcycle gang which is true to real life. Thats what ended up happening after the Vietnam war when they all came back home. Its a true story and the accents are actually incredibly spot on to the real people that the story is about. They listened to audio recordings of the actual people. Jodies voice is almost exact to the real Kathys.

I have to say i completely disagree.... I saw this movie today & i LOVED IT!!!!!!!!And i thought the Trailer was fine, i went into the movie knowing it was about a motorcycle club and this one character's struggle between the club & his girlfriend/wife. It reminded me of a mix of Sons of Anarchy meets Goodfellas (especially with the Karen character in Goodfellas lining up with Kathy in this movie). i LOVED the whole storytelling version style of this, with Kathy as the narrator, again reminding me of Goodfellas vibes & the mob movies of the era. was refreshing. Jodie knocked it out of the park in this movie, nailed the accent, Austin was good, loved Tom... just a great movie. Maybe could have been 15mins shorter, but thats about it.

The toughest motorcycle gang on film still has to be The Black Widows from Every Which Way But Loose / Any Which Way You Can

Anyone who makes a movie as good as "Take Shelter" will get me to vuy a ticket to any of their movies, regardless of the buzz.

Let's remember that THIS IS BASED ON A TRUE STORY

Nothing from the trailer looked like it was going to be mind blowing. I think the studio did not believe in the movie then. One I’ve barely seen it marketed. But to throw it out in summer when other movies would take people’s attention away from it just kind of screams “we had no faith”. But this is just from observing the buzz around it.

YES! I agree with all of your points spot on. I got drawn in by the trailer which made it seem like the movie was going to have a lot more happening but the trailer was nothing like what the movie was actually like.

I think I’ll just watch Wild Hogs instead.

Cody, review The Last Stop in Yuma County!

I saw a lot of people were pulling a Meet Joe Black/ The Phantom Menace and buying a ticket to The Bike Riders just to see the Nosferatu trailer.

Feel like the thumbnail is the second Sons reference I’ve heard from you recently Cody. I always wondered if you were a fan. Favorite character? If the show was still popular would’ve loved to hear your thoughts on that similarly to your TWD ranking.

If you went in with the expectation that you’d see cool biker guys committing crimes and murders and turf wars, you’re gonna be disappointed. This was telling the story of how the original club culture began and the reasons behind its and how through its growth it became corrupt from its original purpose and respect into full on criminal organizations.

So them burning down the bar in the trailer was probably the biggest crime thing…

Jody Comer played the part of the actual character who provided a lot of this info on audiotape for the original book. I read where she listened to the tapes over and over in order to recreate the accent and whiny type tone of her voice. I enjoyed the film very much and feel as though it was head and shoulders over most of the trashy biker movies of the '60's and '70's ( aside from Easy Rider). If one is expecting non-stop action and over the top characters, you won't like it. The characters were very realistic. ( Note: I've been a rider since the early '60's and witnessed first hand the change in outlaw club behavior after the Viet Nam war as the movie accurately depicted. The behavior population of the country as a whole changed for the worse after that disgusting war as well.)

Total agreement. I enjoyed the performances and spending time in that world but it was just mostly a hang out story, which is fine but it prevents it from standing out.

Main thing I couldn’t stand was watching Reedus struggle to keep his fake teeth in every time he spoke. Very poor prop work. Also couldn’t stand the Hardy and Comer voices.

I believe the reason the story was played out a certain way was because we were viewing it through the eyes and ears of Kathy. Which is why we have no idea what happened to Benny those couple of years he disappeared and of course, because she’s the wife of a member she would only know certain details of the club, which is why it did not have more exciting scenes.

*Spoilers* I thought the ending confrontation with Johnny and the Kid should've led to the beginning of the second act. Had this been a movie about Johnny returning to test the Vandals' loyalty after they descend into serious crime, then it could have been really interesting. Even Benny deciding to walk away at that point could have given him a redemptive arc and the story more emotional depth. But the movie just ends with nothing really changing. A shame as all the elements were there but Nichols must have felt he had to adhere to the real story, which wasn't interesting enough to be made into a movie.

I really enjoyed this movie. A couple of odd spots but I’d definitely watch it again. Had some good actors that really helped. I also gotta say, I enjoyed the older beginnings of the gang. I feel the violent gang part is over done, I wanna see bike racing and guys having a good time working on their bikes.

Cody, please please please go and watch Nichols film, Take Shelter, if you haven’t already. It’s a psychological horror-adjacent hidden gem that people don’t discuss more. Peak performances by Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain and an ending that gives me goosebumps every time I watch it. I think you’d dig it

I saw it yesterday with a buddy of mine. It was a good movie in general but it's not what I wanted or expected. It's basically 1/3 faux documentary, 1/3 The Wild One and 1/3 love triangle. It's basically telling the story of the Outlaws MC with the name Vandals replacing it and I get the message: it's talking about how biker clubs used to be just clubs of rebel types but the old guard got replaced with drug-addled criminals that turned them all into gangs. But it didn't deliver much on either aspect and left me wanting something more that just wasn't there. Cast was great though and they all acted great

Hey cody, what did you think of beyond the law,if you've seen it.

I really liked the film. It was interesting to watch the characters. All three main characters gave excellent performances. 👍👍👍

Speaking of Samcro would love for you to do a season by season breakdown and a ranking one of my all time tv shows

I'm definitely gonna go see this. While I''ve found I almost always agree with your reviews, I'm still really interested in this one.

I'll say I'm with on the accent discussion. I will say the Tom Hardy accent reminds of real bikers from Illinois I know. It makes one wonder if real bikers adopt accents to sound cooler like Brando or something.

Deep Cover review?

Hey mate The NEXT real biker movie is called "Patched" due for release soon. Made in Australia. Yes I'm in it, so I'm biased but I can guarantee fights, killing and drugs ah yes. Patched

I remember the casting calls of extras for this in Cincinnati..apparently theyre doing calls for another in cinci

Saw the film on Monday, I thought the performances were really good and I enjoyed the film quite a bit.

It had so much potential, but unfortunately fell way flat!

I thought the movie was pretty good, Jodie comer was unbelievably good, the accent didn’t bother me, all the characters were good 7/10

Cody will you do Sons of Anarchy ranking maybe?

To use a reference from Wrestling Bios, this movie sounds like it has a bunch of Biker Michael Likers. 😉😂🤣 Yeah, hadn't heard anything about this until last night, when another review was posted, and sounds OK I guess, nothing too excited to see, so I'll probably just check it out some point at home. Anyways, thank you, Cody.

I love this movie so much I am seeing this again

Just found your channel 🙌🏻 I also review horror movies and you are one of the people that inspired me. I do skits at the beginning of each review. I enjoy your style Keep it up bro 💪🏻

Hey Cody will you review Season 4 of The Boys? Since the 4th episode just drop

Cody I feel like you should do a ranking of all of Arnold Swarzenegger’s movies!!

If it’s based on real people and events, I understand why the characters don’t have much of an arc. Real people don’t always change much and many stay relatively the same. The wife is there through the whole thing because she was there in real life, and they probably didn’t want to deviate from real events enough to eliminate her from the narrative. We want to see characters, but real events don’t always work when telling a narrative for entertainment.

Are you going to review any of The Boys S4?

I watch your channel every day, and it's strange that I feel like I have to resubscribe to you often. What's up with RU-vid.

I think the film was shot beautifully, really appreciate that it was shot on film given the time period it takes place in. The set decoration was amazing, the motorcycles were historically accurate and period correct, the costume and wardrobe was spot on, the score was fun, fast and upbeat, the Midwest accent akin to the Coen Bros "Fargo" Minnesota accent was fitting for Kathy even if slightly annoying and overall a stunning cast and performance from everyone involved. I actually liked the film for what it is but really wish it was a lot more intense, less blank stare's and chain smoking. It's a film about 1% outlaw biker's in the 1960s, they're whole thing since the beginning has been to live outside of society's norms and literally do whatever you want when you want while not caring what society thinks of you. That's why they purposely wore dirty clothes, iron crosses, swastikas, rode loud customized Harleys, kissed each other on the lips and openly partied 24/7, to piss people off aka "freak out the squares" who didn't accept them. I romanticize this naïve time period when the clubs were more about customizing motorcycles and partying. They were ahead of their time, the epitome of cool and set the timeless trends that are still followed to this day rather than all the crimes that ultimately consumed the club. We know how it ends because we know where the clubs are in the modern day and age, A complete contrast to what it was in the early days and the film shows an authentic version of that compared to some BS like "sons of anarchy". If you're not already a nerd about the subculture at the time or dont know some of the lore going into this film you might miss a lot of the Easter eggs. The book the film is based on isn't actually a narrative story, so imo they did a good job of showing where some of the Midwest 1%er lore comes from. Danny Lyons the author of the book was on set and very much a part of the production, he was a biker IRL and spent a lot of time riding with the Outlaws MC while photographing and interviewing the club but is also known for shooting some of the most iconic photos during the civil rights movement and shot photos of very notable people of the time. I also highly recommend checking out Hunter S Thompsons book "Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga" where he spent a year riding with the Hells Angels in the 1960s, both books are an amazing insight into the outlaw biker scene at that time. I also agree they could've done more with the characters but at least we got the whole Funny Sonny (Norman Reedus character) story which is true. Funny Sonny was a Hells Angel from San Diego who was sent to retrieve a vest from an ex hells angel named Cal who left California in bad standing with the club and didn't return the vest. Funny Sonny was also in bad standing with the club when he left for Chicago so when he got there and struck up a friendship with Cal he ended up stayed for a while and never did end up retrieving the vest. He later went back to California after partying with the Chicago Outlaws and eventually left the Hells Angels in good standing. Unfortunately years later when he was much older he was almost killed by his old club for bragging to a woman who was taking his order at a Chinese takeout restaurant that he was an Angel when he was younger, she knew current members and told them what he was saying so they severely beating him since they didn't know who he was. The story is featured on an old episode of Discovery Channels "Gangland". TLDR: The film was authentic and historically accurate to some degree but could've been much more intense since the real life stories are so much wilder than what was shown in the film that the audience might not even believe they were true....

Austin Butler is my favorite actor, but I’m not sure if I was sold on his performance. Jodi killed it tho

One of the first times I disagree with Cody. The movie was fantastic, and the acting was amazing, Tim Hardy gives a performance to be remembered.

Love the pumpkinhead t shirt. I was really looking forward to seeing this film. I'll wait to stream it . Great video

You were expecting a different movie (the trailer is bad and doesn’t represent the themes of the film). I think they accurately highlight the shift in biker culture in the 60s. The original Vandals, while tough, weren’t exactly harden criminals. They were there for the camaraderie (like a lot of clubs in the 40s-60s) In a dog eat dog world people like them didn’t stand a chance against PTSD Vets and psycho criminals like “The Kid” (that actor was great too). I loved the movie as an untapped period piece, and as a drama. I loved the accents too! lol. I hope Hardy gets an Oscar nod

Damn that's disappointing well at least there's still sons of anarchy 😆

This is just a movie you leave thinking... "did we really need to hear this story?" its so generic

First movie to bore me so badly I was angry it wouldn't end. Great acting by Hardy as usual...too bad he was hardly in the film and the scene where his character ended was as predictable as a Netflix streaming show. Ughhh.

this review is why i love the internet! everyone had a right to their opinion. no matter how stupid that opinion is. :)

If you ride or curious about riding this is a great movie. I enjoyed it and it made sense to me.

This would have been better as a limited series

Well thats sad I've been looking forward to this movie. Ever since seeing Tom Hardy in Peaky Blinders, I've always watched his movies. Maybe I'll just wait to stream this or see CP's uncles copy

Folks don't really know how crime works the funny thing is its not that interesting when you really in crime bs you will be surprised how boring it is when done right 😂

I loved it. I was never bored at all. Not even close. I was on board with all the characters, i would have liked to see more about Benny(Austin Butler), but thats the only critique for me. I knew what it was going in. Figured that out watching the trailer. Im ready to watch it again.

Awesome movie with crap marketing. If your expecting SOA you will be disappointed. It's a great period piece with great performances all round.

Stick to watching grease for your favourite gang film cody lol

Ah that's a shame you didn't enjoy it, we all loved it.

I still have yet to watch mud. Should I give it a try???

Just seen it. It was meh. 6/10. I love this channel so much because I pretty much agree with everything you just said.

I wanted to see that motorcycle gang that was in Fletch Lives!

Would love to see you do a movie review on Deuces Wild 💀

Ha! I totally agree with the Tom Hardy voice, since the trailer came out I was like, what is up with Hardy and making a funny voice for every character?? He is begging to be in a Adam Sandler movie lol. Also, I live in Illinois and I have never heard anyone talk like Jodie's character, maybe that's a southern Illinois thing only, but the first thing that came to mind since I heard her in the trailer was "Jersey" indeed, so I doubt it

Nice review! Now please beware of spoilers in what I'm about to write. I'd been looking forward to this movie for months and was completely disappointed by it. The setup? Get a bunch of scuzzy, surly bikers together and see how they deal with both the polite society they reject AND any rival bike gang that crosses their path. The payoff? THEY GO ON PICNICS! Oh sure, they smoke a lot of cigarettes. They have fights now and then. They even burn down a building (which, if you can stand to pay attention to this thing, actually makes ZERO sense because the building's owner gives dimwit gang leaderJohnny the names of the folks he's after in about two seconds). But nothing builds. Nothing leads to anything else. So what do you do after your gang commits arson and the police and fire department don't intervene because "they're afraid"? I dunno. Have another picnic, I guess. Or maybe talk about how pretty boy Benny should be your gang's next leader because...well...because his wife says he doesn't care about anything. Or something like that. This is, incidentally, a movie that constantly tells you things instead of showing them to you. Benny doesn't cry. Benny doesn't care. Johnny is a family man. A guy nicknamed "Cockroach" eats bugs. And, if I may disagree with one point that many critics have made, I'm not buying that the performances are any good, either. For most of the cast, developing a character amounts to smoking a lot and having oily hair. And no, Austin Butler dresses, looks or acts absolutely NOTHING like James Dean - who played a clean-cut, troubled kid in Rebel Without a Cause. (If anything, Dean's character cared too much about being embarrassed by his family and finding it hard to fit in.) I could go on, but the upshot is that The Bikeriders is a snooze. Don't believe the good reviews on this one. I get it if critics like the director, but no need to praise such a dull, pointless film.

What did you think of the nosferatu trailer?

I recommend loveless

I thought it was good but could’ve been better. I saw it early on Monday. I made a review on it if yall wanna watch it

I still don't understand why they had to secretly shoot Cockroach in the leg.

I paused my Elden Ring for this

I honestly loved the film, love Tom Hardy’s character

Sons of Anarchy was such a good show!! I miss SAMCRO.

I just saw it. It was ok, but it was a little too slow. The dialogue at times had too many pauses. And there was no score. It really could have been much better with music. And the one thing that bothered me was only 2 of his brothers showed up with Johnny to the knife fight? That would have never happened with the president of a club

I haven’t seen it yet but everything you’re describing as boring is what it’s really like in the MC world, we have jobs and families, we don’t ride around all day getting drunk and looking for criminal shit to do. The SOA bullshit is just that, it’s bullshit, sure it made for interesting tv, hell I enjoyed watching it, but it also caused a lot of drama in the MC world because people then started seeing us as bikers that just run around all the time doing gangsta shit. Oh and just for the record we are Not gangs, we are Clubs.

Another movie where they put the most exciting moments in the trailer, ugh. This movie was pretty boring throughout, lots of talking and I thought it was gonna be more about a biker gang that starts out innocent but gets more dark and evil as time goes on.

Fair review. I'm still looking forward to it mostly because I'm a huge Jeff Nichols fan.

I think we’re all waiting for the next SOA again!

Characters and dialogs are great. Those people usually don't evolve or change from high-school till death. Tom Hardys character is probably most realistic. From beginning to the end. And Jodies caracter is probably most common old lady that you can find in any club 😅😂

Where was Clay

still going to view this for myself, been wanting to see this, and i to am a "SOA" fan...good review though.

Every which way but lose....has the best biker gang

I was looking forward to this one because of Tom hardy and that butler kid (I’m younger than him) sad to hear it was a let down. Might wait for vod.

The trailer basically showed that this film wasn't going to be action packed. It was definitely slow at some points, but overall I enjoyed the movie and thought Hardy, Butler and Comer were great. Ending wad a little disappointing but as you said, with it being based off a true story they couldn't do much.

nice shirt!

Eesh. Super bummed by this review. I thought this movie was going to be amazing.

This is a little disappointing, but I like Tom Hardy, so still will go

It’s the greatest gangster movie of all time