Just saw The Bikeriders and I’m genuinely conflicted about it

So I just got back from watching The Bikeriders and I need to talk about this with people who’ve seen it. I went in with pretty high epectations – the trailer looked amazing, that 60s motorcycle club vibe, Tom Hardy doing his thing, and Austin Butler looking all moody and intense. But now that I’ve processed it for a couple hours, I’m feeling really torn about the whole eperience.

Let me start with what absolutely worked for me. The cinematography is just stunning – like, genuinely some of the most beautiful shots I’ve seen in a theater this year. There’s this one scene where the bikes are riding through this misty forest road at dawn, and the way the light filters through the trees.

it’s just perfect. And the sound design with the motorcycle engines rumbling through the theater That alone was almost worth the ticket price. But here’s where I start having issues – the pacing felt really uneven to me.

There would be these incredibly tense, gripping scenes (like that bar fight that goes completely out of control) followed by what felt like 20 minutes of people just sitting around talking without much forward momentum. I found myself checking my watch a couple times during the middle section, which I never want to do in a movie. What did you guys think about the character development I’m curious because for me, Austin Butler’s performance was magnetic – he has this quiet intensity that just commands the screen whenever he’s on it.

But I kept waiting to understand more about what drove his character beyond being the “wild one” of the group. Tom Hardy was doing his usual ecellent work, but it almost felt like he was in a slightly different movie sometimes Like his character had this grounded, almost Shakespearean quality while everyone else was in a more naturalistic drama. The structure of the movie, framed around that journalist interviewing Jodie Comer’s character, worked for me in some scenes but not others.

There were moments where her narration added depth and contet, but other times it felt like it was eplaining things that the visuals and performances were already showing us perfectly well. Like, just let us sit with these characters without telling us how to feel about them! I will say this – the atmosphere and sense of time and place is incredible.

You really feel transported to that specific moment in American subculture. The costume design, the music, the way people move and talk – it all feels authentic and lived-in. There’s a rawness to the early club scenes that I found completely captivating.

But then the third act happens, and without giving spoilers, it felt like the movie wasn’t sure what kind of ending it wanted. Is this a tragedy A commentary on how subcultures get commercialized A character study It seemed to be reaching for all of these at once and didn’t fully commit to any single direction. Here’s what I’m wondering – did anyone else feel like the female characters were seriously underdeveloped Jodie Comer is such a fantastic actress, and she does amazing work with what she’s given, but her character often felt like she was just there to observe and react to the men rather than having her own compelling arc.

There were hints of something deeper there, but the movie never really eplored it. Also, what about that time jump It felt pretty abrupt to me, like we missed some crucial development that would have made the later dynamics make more sense. The transformation of the club from this almost family-like group to something more corporate and violent needed more breathing room to feel earned.

I don’t want to sound too negative because there are elements of this movie that are genuinely brilliant. The chemistry between the main trio is palpable, and there are individual scenes that will stick with me for a long time. That moment when Butler’s character silently fies Hardy’s bike in the garage – no dialogue, just two actors completely in their characters – that was masterful filmmaking.

Maybe my epectations were part of the problem. I went in thinking this would be this generation’s “Easy Rider” but it’s doing something different, and I’m still figuring out what that is. It’s more melancholy and observational than revolutionary, which is fine, but I’m not sure it completely works.

What did everyone else think Am I being too harsh Did the ending work better for you than it did for me And what about that final shot – was it profound or just pretentious I can’t decide. The more I think about this movie, the more it lingers with me, which is probably a sign that it did something right. But I can’t shake this feeling that it could have been truly great instead of just interesting with moments of brilliance.