4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Review: THE BIKERIDERS

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Aug 13 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

From 1965 to 1973, photographer Danny Lyon (Mike Faist, Challengers, West Side Story), documented and interviewed members of the Chicago Vandals Motorcycle Club for a book he was working on. The story opens in 1965, where Kathy (Jodie Comer, The Last Duel, Killing Eve) enters a motorcycle bar to meet a girlfriend for a drink. She feels completely out of place, and a bit scared when many of the bikers aggressively hit on her. But all that goes away when her eyes lock onto Benny (Austin Butler, Elvis, Dune: Part Two). As we learn from her narration, Benny is no good, constantly getting in trouble with the law, but Kathy can’t help but be drawn to him. This whole motorcycle subculture is foreign to her, but as soon as she sits on the back of Benny’s bike and rides down the highway surrounded by the rest of his gang, Kathy is hooked, and within 5 weeks, she and Benny are married.

The Vandals were founded several years earlier by club leader Johnny (Tom Hardy, Mad Max: Fury Road) after he watched Marlon Brando in The Wild One on TV. He’s not really a gangster in any way, but with a wife and kids at home, riding with the Vandals is an escape, and a way to live out his tough guy fantasies. However, as the club continues to grow and attract some less savory potential members, he starts to realize that he is losing control. Some members are eager to expand the club into other chapters, and a 20-year-old delinquent known as “The Kid” even challenges Johnny after he refuses to let him and his friends join the club. With his leadership in question, and the club heading in the direction of a full-fledged gang, are the good old days of his once racing club coming to a close?

The Bikeriders comes from writer/director Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud, Midnight Special, Loving) and is based on the real Danny Lyon’s photojournalistic book of the same name, where he documented and interviewed members of the Chicago Outlaw Motorcycle Club in the late 1960s. The book features photographs and interviews, some of which are used verbatim in the film. However, Nichols builds his own narrative around these characters, centered around this trio of Kathy, Benny and Johnny, and their fictionalized Midwest Motorcycle Club, The Vandals. While Nichols takes inspiration from the book, he also expands the story with his own idea, particularly since Benny wasn’t actually interviewed in the book. Nichols describes the story as a love triangle, with Kathy actually romantically falling for Benny, and Johnny more of an idolizing of Benny as the biker he’s always wanted to be. The interviews in Lyon’s book only span a single year, but Nichols splits the events across three periods—1965, 1969 and 1975—in order to explore the fate of this club and its members over the course of a decade. He also focuses the story from the perspective of Kathy, who narrates a lot of what we see in the film.

I had mixed feelings about this movie. There are moments in the film that have a Sons of Anarchy-like vibe, with the comradery and family aspect of the club members. It also does a nice job of building the tension as the various bikers find themselves in situations up against some rival biker or stranger who doesn’t care for their club. However, much of what we see feels like it’s already been done before, especially in SoA, with Benny serving as our Jax, except it’s taking place in a different decade. The accents are probably what are going to attract or alienate most viewers. They get to be a bit much after a while, and make the film feel like it should be more of a comedy. While Tom Hardy tries his best attempt at a Chicago accent, Jodie Comer really transforms into her character—her accent sounds like something out of Fargo, but it is actually remarkably identical to that of her character’s real-life counterpart. She does an amazing job of becoming Kathy, and I suspect folks unfamiliar with the actress would be shocked to discover that she’s British.

The film features an excellent and recognizable supporting cast (even if you don’t necessarily know them all by name), including Michael Shannon, Damon Herriman, Beau Knapp, Emory Cohen, Karl Glusman, and Toby Wallace. There’s also an appearance by well-known motorcycle fan Norman Reedus, who somehow looks even more disastrous and rundown than his Daryl Dixon character (from the commentary, he apparently asked to be practically unrecognizable in the film).

Universal has released The Bikeriders on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD, and we were sent the 4K version for review. The movie was shot on film, which seems to be somewhat of a rarity these days, but it really helps to capture the look of the era. The Dolby Vision color graded 4K video is nearly flawless and stunning, with a clean and clear picture throughout, and a natural and satisfying level of film grain. Even in some of the darker sequences, such as when the club is spending a night amongst the stars, the level of detail remains solid. The Dolby Atmos soundtrack provides a fully-immersive ambiance, making you feel like you are right in the middle of the action as the bike engines rev and zoom across the screen. The track also provides clear dialogue throughout, and a satisfying period soundtrack. The disc contains just over 10 minutes of behind-the-scenes featurettes with the cast and crew as well as a director commentary track.

The 4K release comes packed in a standard 4K keepcase, with the 4K and Blu-ray discs placed on either side. The case is placed in an glossy carboard slipcover, and also includes a code to redeem a 4K Movies Anywhere-compatible digital copy of the film.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:55:55)

2160p / Widescreen 2.39:1
Dolby Vision / HDR10
Audio: English Dolby Atmos, French 7.1 Dolby Digital Plus, French (Canada) 7.1 Dolby Digital Plus, Spanish (Castilian) 7.1 Dolby Digital Plus, Spanish 7.1 Dolby Digital Plus, German Dolby Atmos, Italian 7.1 Dolby Digital Plus
Subtitles: English SDH, French, French (Canada), Spanish (Castilian), Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish

Blu-ray:

1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
Audio: English Dolby Atmos, English DVS (Descriptive Video Service), Spanish 7.1 Dolby Digital Plus, French 7.1 Dolby Digital Plus
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French

Digital (code may not be valid after 9/30/2025):

4K Digital Copy (Movies Anywhere compatible)

Extras:
Play All, or select from:

Johnny, Benny, & Kathy (4:56)
The cast/crew talk about taking a book of photographs and turning it into a narrative, the characters and love triangle at the center, the accents, the cast, and more. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with writer/director Jeff Nichols, producers Brian Kavanaugh-Jones & Sarah Green, dialect coach Victoria Hanlin, and stars Austin Butler (“Benny”), Jodie Comer (“Kathy”) & Mike Faist (“Danny”).
The Era of The Bikeriders (3:22)
The cast/crew talk about recreating the 1960s and 1970s with period costumes and bikes, learning to ride the motorcycles, and more. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with writer/director Jeff Nichols, costume designer Erin Benach, producers Brian Kavanaugh-Jones & Sarah Green, stunt co-coordinator/stunt double Jeff Milburn,
and stars Austin Butler, Karl Glusman (“Corky”), Emory Cohen (“Cockroach”), Beau Knapp (“Wahoo”), Jodie Comer, Boyd Holbrook (“Cal”), Toby Wallace (“The Kid”) & Damon Herriman (“Brucie”).
The Filmmaker’s Eye: Jeff Nichols (2:57)
The director talks about realizing his vision with the film, while the cast/producers talk about working with Nichols. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with writer/director Jeff Nichols, producer Sarah Green, and stars Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Mike Faist & Karl Glusman.
Feature Commentary with Writer/Director Jeff Nichols (1:55:55)
Writer/Director Jeff Nichols provides a very subdued but interesting commentary, discussing how he was inspired by Danny Lyons’s book, finding the balance between using exact dialogue from the interviews and coming up with his own voice for the characters, determining which people and events to fictionalize, the characters and cast, Jodie Comer’s performance, and more. He also delves into shooting on film, the different way the interviews were shot for each time period, and so on.

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Film:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Worth a Look

The Bikeriders is a snapshot into the motorcycle subculture of the late 1960s, building a fictional narrative around real people who appeared in a photojournalistic book. The film has a great cast, an amazing performance by Jodie Comer, who completely transforms into her character, and does a nice job of transporting the viewer back to a different era. The wild accents can be a bit much after a while, and the tone is a bit odd at times, mixing in some humor along with more gritty Sons of Anarchy-like motorcycle gang antics/clashes, but I think fans of the genre will enjoy it. And fins of the film will certainly appreciate the 4K presentation. If you’re on the fence about a blind buy, the film is currently streaming on Peacock.