70
Metascore
53 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90VarietyPeter DebrugeVarietyPeter DebrugeIt goes a long way to humanize figures who’ve been long misrepresented on film, while giving audiences privileged access to this inner world.
- 90TheWrapTomris LafflyTheWrapTomris LafflySome films merely offer you a clockwork plot. Others, like Jeff Nichols’ smokin’ cool The Bikeriders, whisk you away with a roar of mood and atmosphere.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenThe Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenWhat resonates beyond the brawls and blood is a profound affection for the people onscreen — those grace notes provided by a fine cast, with Jodie Comer and Tom Hardy stirring undercurrents that are particularly affecting precisely because they’re never explicitly examined or explained.
- 80Total FilmNeil SmithTotal FilmNeil SmithWhile the style seems familiar, the material feels fresh: a testament not only to how Nichols lovingly crafts a fictional story around the photos Danny Lyon took for his seminal 1968 book The Bikeriders, but also to the flesh his actors put on the bones of the archetypes who populate it.
- 75Entertainment WeeklyMaureen Lee LenkerEntertainment WeeklyMaureen Lee LenkerThough the panoply of accents the actors choose could easily fill out a Midwestern grocery store checkout line, there's not a performance here that isn't admirable for its sheer chutzpah. Nichols has assembled an estimable ensemble, and they bring to life the antics and erratic violence of their characters with great authenticity.
- 75The PlaylistGregory EllwoodThe PlaylistGregory EllwoodIt’s not acknowledged enough how difficult it is to make a period piece that doesn’t feel staged or performative. Nichols genuinely captures the spirit of this particular era and keeps your attention even if you never gave a second thought to those packs of bike riders passing you on the highway.
- 70IGNIGNAn affectionate take on a much-romanticized subculture, The Bikeriders purrs along rather than zips, but its stellar cast ensures a smooth ride as Jeff Nichols offers some insights into the highs and lows of a legendary motorcycle gang.
- 67IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichThe singular vibration that Nichols brings to the golden age of motorcycles gives way to the all-too-familiar entropy that ended it, as a movie that busts out of the gate as some kind of new American classic ultimately runs out of gas on the side of the highway.
- 42The Film StageCaleb HammondThe Film StageCaleb HammondThe Bikeriders is at its best when it’s a loose look at an inconsequential motorcycle club in ’60s Chicago. In our current era, where real subcultures are generally extinct from the Internet’s monopoly on shaping culture, a straightforward, fun, albeit idealistic look at what public community can offer men would’ve been enough of a statement for audiences to consider.
- 42ColliderEmma KielyColliderEmma KielyWhile Comer makes a committed effort to carry the film, it falls flat in its excessive filler, undeveloped characters, and symphony of bonkers accents.