After seven long years following the one-two, varied punch of Midnight Special and Loving, director Jeff Nichols is finally back. The Bikeriders––bringing together the stellar cast of Tom Hardy, Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Michael Shannon, Boyd Holbrook, Norman Reedus, and Mike Faist––is set in the 1960s and follows a decade in the lives of a motorcycle club. Following its Telluride premiere, the first trailer and poster have now been unveiled ahead of a December 1 release.
Caleb Hammond said in his Telluride review, “Using photographer Danny Lyon’s iconic The Bikeriders’ imagery as a jumping-off point, Jeff Nichols’ latest feature imagines a fictionalized Chicago motorcycle club, the Vandals. Motorcycle club culture might be a distinctly American phenomenon, but Nichols casts two Brits in the lead, with varying returns: Jodie Comer as Kathy narrates the story in a clear Goodfellas conceit, adopting a Midwest accent flashy (and divisive) enough to ensure sustained awards-season chatter; Tom Hardy is Johnny, a truck driver who gets the idea to start a motorcycle club while watching Marlon Brando’s The Wild One. This low-stakes “why not?” starting point for founding the club works early in the film, until, following the Goodfellas trajectory, it all comes crashing down. Without Thelma Schoonmaker’s editing prowess, The Bikeriders’ rise-and-fall narrative ultimately plays too conventional.”
See the trailer and poster below.
The Bikeriders opens on December 1.