This essay on The Bikeriders was originally written for the film’s European premiere at the 2023 BFI London Film Festival. It has been updated for the movie’s theatrical release.

Elvis Presley’s sadly unfulfilled ambition for his movie career was to be the next James Dean. So it’s an ironic coincidence that Austin Butler, after playing Elvis in 2022’s Best Picture Oscar nominee Elvis, should now take direct aim at the kind of simmering yet poised, unutterably cool and devastatingly handsome role that James Dean typified in the 1950s — and score a bullseye. He brought a particularly creepy animal magnetism to Dune: Part Two, but it is absolutely ridiculous how good he looks in The Bikeriders.

The movie is a motorcycle-gang drama set in the 1960s, starring Butler as Benny, a laconic yet hotheaded member of a Chicago biker club, the Vandals. As Benny, Butler has artfully mussed, greased blonde hair and a scruffy goatee. He wears many layers of frayed, often sleeveless denim and leather, and rings on most of his........

© Polygon