Despite the fact the highly-anticipated film The Bikeriders got strong early reviews when it premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival last August, it was deemed by Focus Features, who bought the film from original production company New Regency, to be more a general audience film than an award film. Hence why, even during the actors and writers strike of last year, it's release date was moved from December 1, 2023 to a more accessible summer release date of June 21st of this year. With that new date fast approaching, the new trailer for the Jeff Nichols-directed feature is so vastly difference from the first trailer released, depicting a film that is brutal and uncompromising. You know, something to take a date to one Friday night.
Nichols had been developing the idea of the story since 2013, inspired by the 1967 photo-book of the same name by Danny Lyon. The result is a completely fictional story set in the 1960's that follows the decade-long evolution of a Chicago motorcycle club called the Vandals that change from being a gathering place for local outsiders into a more sinister gang, threatening the original group's unique way of life. The first trailer implied that it one of the major perspectives Kathy (Jodie Comer) as she witnesses her husband Benny (Austin Butler) and his involvement in the group, led by the violent Johnny (Tom Hardy). One way or another, this is without a doubt Nichols' grittiest concept since his 2012 film Mud.
The Bikeriders co-stars Michael Shannon, Mike Faist, and Norman Reedus.
I'm a Nichols fan and this is one of the few films that I'm genuinely looking forward to. It's been delayed more than once I think.