After more than a decade in Hollywood, 2022’s Elvis made Austin Butler an Oscar-nominated movie star. For his first lead role after that hit, we head to 2024’s The Bikeriders.

In Chicago circa 1965, strong-willed Kathy Bauer (Jodie Comer) meets Benny Cross (Butler), a rookie member of the Vandals Motorcycle Club. They marry a mere five weeks after their first encounter.

Benny wants nothing more to do than prove himself to Vandals leader Johnny Davis (Tom Hardy) and the latter grooms the former as his successor. This leads Benny and Kathy down a complex path that forces them to make various choices.

Though Bikeriders marked Butler’s first major role after Elvis, he also appeared in 2024’s Dune: Part 2 in the small but important part as Feyd-Rautha. Bikeriders wrapped prior to Dune 2 but the latter actually hit screens later due to a Hollywood strike.

The movie’s lousy financial showing indicates that Elvis didn’t turn Butler into a box office draw. Even with a modest budget of about $35 million, it $36 million worldwide gross means it didn’t make money.

I can’t claim the movie deserved a superior fate. While it remains reasonably watchable, it lacks a lot of purpose.

It doesn’t help that writer/director Jeff Nichols openly invites viewers to compare Bikeriders to 1990’s classic GoodFellas right out of the gate. The movie’s opening clearly echoes Martin Scorsese’s work in the earlier flick.

Nichols doesn’t emulate Scorsese as obviously the rest of the way, but that vibe remains. Nichols wouldn’t be the first filmmaker to “borrow” from Scorsese, but it feels like a mistake to do so in such an obvious manner.

Another issue stems from the storytelling format. Bikeriders evolves via interviews with Kathy conducted by journalist Danny Lyon (Mike Faist).

This feels like a cheap conceit to allow the movie to provide reams of exposition. A better-written script would find a way to show and not tell, but this one ladles out too much content that simply explains different elements.

Bikeriders lacks a particularly coherent narrative, as it tends to feel episodic. Granted, GoodFellas could be seen the same way, but it still felt like it enjoyed an arc that took viewers on a journey.

By contrast, Bikeriders tends to seem like a vaguely related collection of scenes that don’t add up to much. Sure, we do see the manner in which the Vandals veer from club to criminals but this doesn’t present an especially vivid plot.

The actors do reasonably well, though Comer and Hardy offer comically overdone Midwestern accents. Their cartoony dialogue readings stand out even more when compared to the more understated vocals of the American castmembers.

Nothing about Bikeriders falters badly enough to make it a chore to watch. Nonetheless, the movie consists of too many clichés and a tale without a lot of momentum.

The Bikeriders appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie came with an appealing presentation.

Overall delineation worked well. A smattering of slightly soft wider shots emerged but these remained in the minority.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws failed to manifest.

Despite the film’s period setting, Bikeriders opted for Hollywood Standard Teal and Amber/Orange. Tedious as these choices may seem, the disc reproduced them well.

Blacks appeared dark and tight, while low-light shots felt smooth. I felt pleased with this solid image.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the film’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack came with more zing than I anticipated. This occurred mainly via the manner which motorcycles roared around the room.

That may not sound like a recipe for a great soundfield, but given how many scenes involved bikes, this factor turned prominent. Other violent sequences used the spectrum well, and music spread nicely.

Audio quality appeared fine. Because a lot of the music came from old recordings, these components could vary, but score and songs usually sounded positive.

Dialogue became concise and crisp, while effects brought fine range, with deep low-end. This turned into a better than anticipated soundtrack.

When we go to extras, we begin with an audio commentary from writer/director Jeff Nichols. He provides a running, screen-specific look at the source and its adaptation, story/characters, cast and performances, costumes, vehicles and period details, music, photography, action, effects and related topics.

Nichols makes this an informative track. Even though we get a bit too much dead space, he touches on a useful array of topics and does so in a concise and engaging manner.

We also find three featurettes, and Johnny, Benny and Kathy spans four minutes, 56 seconds. It offers info from Nichols, producers Sarah Green and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, dialogue coach Victoria Hanlin, and actors Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, and Mike Faist.

The reel covers the source and its adaptation as well as story/characters and cast/performances. It comes with a few decent notes but it largely feels fluffy.

The Era of The Bikeriders goes for three minutes, 22 seconds. Here we hear from Butler, Nichols, Comer, Kavanaugh-Jones, Green, stunt coordinator Jeff Milburn, costume designer Erin Benach, and actors Karl Glusman, Emory Cohen, Beau Knapp, Boyd Holbrook, Damon Herriman and Toby Wallace.

We learn about costumes, hair, bikes and period details. It brings another mix of happy talk and production elements.

Finally, The Filmmaker’s Eye occupies two minutes, 57 seconds. It involves Nichols, Green, Comer, Butler, Faist and Glusman.

“Eye” focuses on Nichols’ approach to the project. Unsurprisingly, we get praise for the director along with a few insights.

As a look at a motorcycle gang, The Bikeriders does enough to keep the viewer with it. However, it lacks real depth or momentum and suffers from a few too many self-inflicted wounds. The Blu-ray comes with strong picture and audio as well as a smattering of supplements. Expect a watchable but unremarkable drama.