The American director Jeff Nichols went rather quiet after producing two "impressive" films in 2016, "Loving" and "Midnight Special". Now, he has come "roaring back onto the scene with 'The Bikeriders'", said Robbie Collin in The Telegraph.
Inspired by the photographer Danny Lyon's 1968 book about a notorious biker gang in Chicago, it delivers a "grubbily glamorous blast of underworld machismo" reminiscent of mid-career Scorsese: think wildly charismatic performances, "jabs of barbarous violence, and a skin-fizzingly sharp jukebox soundtrack".
Tom Hardy stars as Johnny, the leader of the fictional Vandals gang. The voice-over, though, comes from Kathy (a superb Jodie Comer), who is in love with Benny, Johnny's closest confidant, played by Austin Butler. "The plot, insofar as there is one, traces Hardy's rise and fall", as his club slips ever deeper into violent crime; but the film "is less interested in telling a story than pinning down a particular time, place and attitude – and does so with such pungent precision, you can all but smell it".
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Butler's "vain performance, all scowl and hooded eyes, threatens to tip the film into pastiche", said Matthew Bond in The Mail on Sunday. And the story's episodic structure does rather drain it of "immediacy and narrative drive". But Comer disappears brilliantly into her character, "while Hardy quietly delivers one of the best performances of his career as the ageing tough guy who knows his time will soon pass".
This "well-crafted" film has much to recommend it, said Deborah Ross in The Spectator. But be warned: it's exceedingly violent. "If you are squeamish, I reckon you'll spend a good 30% of the two-hour running time looking down into your lap."
-
August 23 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday's political cartoons include deficit dimness, steamroller-in-chief, and more
-
5 museum-grade cartoons about Trump's Smithsonian purgeCartoons Artists take on institutional rebranding, exhibit interpretation, and more
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
The 5 best zombie movies of all timeThe Week Recommends Ghouls feasting on flesh have been a staple of cinema for more than 50 years
-
Ford Ranger Plug-in Hybrid: 'more than just a novelty'The Week Recommends Europe's first plug-in hybrid pickup is 'surprisingly agile'
-
6 lush homes in the treesFeature Featuring a glass house in Texas and a home built for a Broncos quarterback in Colorado
-
7 travel fragrances that let you smell good on the goThe Week Recommends Spritz away!
-
Brooklyn vs. the Beckhams: trouble in paradiseIn the Spotlight Scion of the Beckham clan and billionaire heiress wife Nicola Peltz staged an elaborate vow renewal – and none of his family were on the guest list
-
Alien: Earth – a 'bold' prequel to the space horror classicThe Week Recommends Set two years before Alien, new Disney show pays 'homage' to the original
-
Music reviews: Ethel Cain, Amaarae, and The Black KeysFeature "Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You," "Black Star," and "No Rain, No Flowers"
-
Film reviews: Highest 2 Lowest and WeaponsFeature A kidnapping threatens a mogul's legacy and a town spins into madness after 17 children disappear
