There's a number of things that made me think I was watching a comedy:
1. Jodie Comer's accent. It might be accurate but I've rarely heard a more fucking annoying and silly way of talking in a supposedly serious drama.
2. As far as I can tell their amazing "club" consisted solely of sitting around drinking booze and/or riding their motorcycle. Wow-wee!
3. When Johnny is shot and the look on his face when he's lying on the ground.
4. I thought the guy at the start was going to be a bad ass. Instead he gets hit over the heat with a shovel. Personally I think he should have just left and got on his bike.
In addition there's a guy who talks about how he likes to eat bugs and don't get me started on Michael Shannon's character. I mean were we supposed to be laughing AT them?
The film is loosely based on a photo/book of the same name, covering the lives, stories and experiences of a real life biker gang, the Chicago Outlaws. What I enjoyed about this film is that it doesn’t embellish in the lives of the individuals it’s reporting on, and yes, what was portrayed in the film is a fairly accurate portrayal of most biker clubs in that era and maybe even today.
They’re not all involved in high stakes robberies, and overly dramatic crime sprees, instead there’s a lot of riding, talking, drinking and fucking….
1. People talk like this in some parts of the country, especially in this era, haven’t you seen Grease?
And I felt that Comer was the corner stone of the film and enjoyed her performance.
2. My preface goes over this.
3. The look on Johnny’s face what that of bewilderment, the times had changed and the following of rules and being honorable in the sense of abiding by said rules had gone out the window, Johnny didn’t get out when he had the chance and paid for it with his life.
4. Benny was a bad ass, he stayed true to himself and wasn’t a coward. Maybe he wasn’t very bright, or maybe he just didn’t care, but he didn’t back down from being seriously outweighed as well as outnumbered, and refused to take his jacket off when threatened with violence, which is more than I can say for most people put in his boots.
This was a film about real people, not marvel superheroes or criminal masterminds.
Watch the film through a different lens, one that humanizes it’s characters, and you may enjoy it more.