THE BIKERIDERS (2023) (UPHE 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray Review)

 

BIKERIDERS (2023)

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital 

Collector's Edition Review 

Label: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment 

Region Code: Region-Free 

Rating: R 

Duration: 1 Hour 55 Minutes 55 Seconds 

Audio: English Dolby Atmos with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (2.39:1) 

Director:  Jeff Nichols

Cast: Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Michael Faist, and Norman Reedus

The Bikeriders (2024), directed by Jeff Nichols (Mud), is inspired by the book “The Bikeriders” by Danny Lyon, first published in 1968, that told firsthand the stories of the real-life Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club. The film based and inspired by that book, but changes names and the name of the bike club to The Vandals, which is started-up by Johnny (Tom Hardy, Mad Max: Fury Road) after watching a late-night viewing of the biker classic The WIld One with Marlon Brando, seemingly quite enamored with Brando response to being asked "Johnny, what are you rebelling against" to which he responds "What have you got?", it is a pretty cool retort. He starts the club in the 60's and among The Vandals we have Benny (Austin Butler, Dune II), Zipco (Michael Shannon, The Harvest), Cal (Boyd Holbrook, The Predator), Brucie (Damon Herriman, The Nightingale), Wahoo (Beau Knapp, Super 8)  and Cockroach (Emory Cohen, Lords of Chaos). They're a tight-knit bunch, and the story is being told sort of through the recollections of Kathy (Jodie Comer, The Last Duel) who starts off as an outsider than happens to end up at a Vandals party through a friend, and five weeks laters marries biker Bennie. The film features the author of the book Danny Lyon, played Mike Faist (Challengers) who is ever-present, taking pictures and making audio recordings of his time among the bikers, and interviewing Kathy years later, which is the narrative structure of the film. 

 

It really is quite a wonderful ensemble cast, everyone looks cool all leathered up, scuzzy, greasy and unkempt, we even get a appearance from The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus as Funny Sunny, a bearded biker for sunny California who crashed a Vandal picnic looking for a new group of bikers to hang with, and who brings an element of danger not previously present amongst the riders. 

Hardy is terrific as the enigmatic Johnny, and he of course does a podd vocal affectation for the role, which I thought was pretty cool, and then we have Bennie played by Butler, in what I think has been his best role yer, as the somewhat quiet, ultra-loyal friend to Johnny, who is prone to violence, they are both fantastic. I also quite liked Jodie Comer as Bennie's outsider wife Kathy, who is chock full of Minnesota nice, she struggles with his loyalty to her and his loyalty to the bike club. Sadly, Kathy gets little backstory or fleshing out of the characters, but neither does anyone else for that matter, and in that way our can tells it's based on a coffee table book, there is no inner-life really that comes to the fore, but surprisingly the cast is so strong and well-cast that it holds together quite well even if the story is pretty dang threadbare. 

The crux of the arc is that what started out as a biker's club, once opened up to different chapters in different cities, the membership becoming increasingly violent and drug addled post Viet Nam, and how Johnny struggles to maintain leadership in a time of change. He desperately tries to recruit Benny to take over, but he clearly wants no part of leadership. Later when Johnny refuses membership to a young delinquent The Kid (Toby Wallace, The Royal Hotel) after he displays his willingness to abandon his friends to join the club, unintentionally planting the seeds of his demise in the process, as a new younger generation of riders push the club towards more criminal minded enterprises. 

I thought The Bikeriders was a pretty cool watch, I loved all the retro motorcycles and leather-clad members, the testosterone is off the charts, but there's some heart dnd depth to the characters, at least through the stellar performances, if not through the script.  It also captures this moment in time, the mid 60's through the mid 70s, quite well, the period trappings looked spot-on to me, the fashions, vehicles and music selections all bringing it to life, you can practically smell, the sweat grease and beer, chock full of brotherhood, brooding men, and their beloved motorcycles. 

Audio/Video: The Bikeriders (2024) arrives on 4K Ultra HD from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment in 2160p UHD framed in 2.39:1 widescreen, with the benefit of HDR10 WCG color-grading. The color-space here is decidedly muted, it feels appropriately dingy, but the 4K resolution offers copious amounts of details of wild hair, facial stubbles, and the texture of the leather jackets all look wonderful, you can almost smell that gas, beer and oil.  Colors are nicely saturated, the HDR doesn't offer anything I would call eye-popping, but the primaries shine quite nicely, and compared the SDR Blu-ray does offer an uptick in color fidelity. 

Audio comes by way of English Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1) with optional English subtitles. The track is robust and the sounding of vintage motorcycles engines revving purr real purdy like, additionally dialogue is exported with nice depth and nuance, and the rockin; score featuring Them, The Shangri-La's, Bo Diddley, The Sonics and The Stooges (just to name a few) sound wonderful. 

Extras for this Collector's Edition includes an Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Jeff Nichols, plus a handful of featurettes by way of Johnny, Benny, & Kathy,  The Era of The Bikeriders, and The Filmmaker’s Eye. 

The 2-disc UHD/BD arrives in a black keepcase with a single-sided wrap featuring the theatrical artwork, plus a first=pressing only Slipcover with the same artwork. Inside there's a redemption code for a 4K Digital Copy. 

Special Features: 

-  Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Jeff Nichols
- Johnny, Benny, & Kathy: From the accents to the attitude, get to know the lead characters of THE BIKERIDERS. Hear from the cast and producing team on how they took the personalities and environments from a book of photographs and brought a narrative to the big screen.
- The Era of THE BIKERIDERS: Grab your leather jacket and gear up for a ride as we enter the era of THE BIKERIDERS. This piece focuses on the authenticity that was captured by the brilliant production team who nailed the look, feel, and sound of the late 1960s Midwest.
- The Filmmaker’s Eye: Jeff Nichols: Go behind the lens with director Jeff Nichols as he shared his overall vision for the film, stylistic choices, and how he works with talent. Members of the ensemble cast along with producers chime in on the significance of working on a Jeff Nichols film.

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