The rise and fall of a North American biker gang known as The Vandals, run by Tom Hardy's Johnny Davis, as witnessed by Jodie Comer's Kathy Cross, the wife of gang member Benny Cross (Austin Butler). The film presented as a series of interviews given to photography student and biker Danny Lyon (Mike Faist) by Kathy as she documents the creation of the gang, how she meet, fell in love with and married (all in the space of five weeks) with Benny 'The Kid' Cross, and their lives together across key moments of the 'club's life.
Following the creation of the club and its subsequent rise and demise the film feels like a love letter to the America of the 1950s and the death of the American dream as the returning Vietnam Vets change the shape of the biker gang with their heightened violence and the dreams of the 50s get replaced by the reality of the 1960s and 70s.
The trailer implies this film is about the internal struggles of the gang and a war between old leader Tom Hardy and new ruler Austin Butler and it could not be further from the truth.
Based as it is on a true story this film is actually very touching, sad, and genuinely funny, although not in a comedy sense, but in the way that real life can be funny and sad at the same time. It's about the various members of the gang and key moments in it and Kathy's life. It captures the spirit of the times very well and the relationships between the various gang members and Kathy are well explored.
It's perhaps a shame that we learn very little of The Kid, or Johnny Davis but the evocation of the era is a delight and the film, which feels somewhat old fashioned is deeply satisfying and rewarding.
The film ends with a scene of sudden violence, which is beautifully telegraphed and arrives with both great sadness but also with a sense of hope and there's an unspoken look of pure love between Kathy and Ben that we see at the end which is deeply uplifting and makes us believe that the future might just work out.
All three leads, Comer, Butler and Hardy give superb performances, and Comer who carries the film as its narrator is utterly beguiling and proves herself yet again to be an exceptional actor. And that's taking nothing away from Hardy or Butler.
A great film and one I believe will reward future watches.
8/10
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