The Reel Review
During America’s politically and economically turbulent 1960s, a Midwestern motorcycle club evolves into a violent, organized crime gang. Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer and Austin Butler star in this period crime drama based on photojournalist Danny Lyon’s 1967 picture book about the Vandals motorcycle gang.
The initial concept from writer/director Jeff Nichols (Midnight Special, Take Shelter) is intriguing – to capture a bygone era of 1960s Americana reminiscent of 1983’s The Outsiders. But the film’s choppy execution and uneven narrative is further hampered by a not-so-compelling story and some painfully unconvincing Midwestern accents. And most unsatisfying, we never see what happened to the two men who nearly crippled Austin Butler’s Benny.
Jodie Comer (Killing Eve, The Last Duel), as Benny’s love interest, pieces together the misfits-to-criminals evolution through interviews with Mike Faist (Challengers) as our imbedded photojournalist. But the story never really explains the catalysts for that transformation (the Vietnam war, political unrest, economic turbulence) in a convincing way, instead settling for dull vignettes and romanticized visuals of a brief, bygone era.
REEL FACTS
• The Vandals biker gang that inspired the film still exists as of 2024 and is a rival to the Hell’s Angels.
• Writer/director Jeff Nichols left A Quiet Place: Day One to make this film, his sixth collaboration with longtime friend Michael Shannon.
• An unrecognizable Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead) plays the role of rotten-toothed Funny Sonny.
Video & Photo
