Bikers and Murder for Hire: Two New Films Suggest Another Good Year in Movies

Adria Arjona and Glen Powell in Hit Man

Is this going to be another stellar year in films? I saw two new pictures over the weekend and enjoyed them both which means that I've seen five excellent movies this year and we''re not even in July. (The other three are Evil Does Not Exist, La Chimera and Totem.)

What particularly impressed me about The Bikeriders was the performances of Tom Hardy and Jodie Comer. (Austin Butler was solid but I'd like to see him in something very different next.) Hardy and Comer are both British and in Bikeriders played American Midwesterners with the thickest of accents. However mostly I noticed the truth of what Norma Desmond said in Sunset Blvd: “We didn't need dialogue. We had faces!” The best actors say so much more with their eyes and expressions than do mediocre ones. Think of Al Pacino in the first two Godfather films. Yes, he had monologues, yes, he had outbursts but so much of what he told us was unsaid. Note in particular the scene in which he’s about to assassinate Sollozzo and Captain McCluskey. He’s not saying a word but his eyes are telling us all about the emotions roiling within him. The eyes have it. This is the art of acting. A twinkle of the eyes, a crinkle of the mouth, the raising of an eyebrow. Acting is more than knowing your lines and hitting your marks, it's what you say without speaking. 

Other actors are expressive with their body language. The languid movements of Henry Fonda, the muscularity of Marlon Brando, the nimbleness of James Cagney, the gestures of Cate Blanchett. The sensuousness of Sophia Loren. The intensity of Jack Nicholson and Denzel Washington. And yet they are all natural, unaffected, real, while telling their characters’ stories with so much more than words. 

I’ve not had a lot of exposure to Hardy but he’s been brilliant anytime I’ve seen him. In Bikeriders he absolutely stole scenes as the head of the biker gang. I don’t recall seeing Comer before. But I look forward to more of her work.

The Bikeriders was written and directed by Jeff Nichols who is not exactly a household name. But I've seen three previous efforts of his, Mud, Loving and Take Shelter. Take Shelter was a superb film which started Michael Shannon. Shannon had a supporting role in Bikeriders, he’s a wonderful actor who clearly had a great time as an over the top character called Zipco who equates everyone he doesn’t like with Pinkos. Shannon is always a delight bringing a rawness and power to his performances. Never subtle but always memorable.

Bikeriders is wonderfully evocative of a time and place (1965-1973, Chicago) creating a world that our imaginations couldn't have done justice. Not surprisingly it centers around a biker gang (that's still a going concern), particularly one member (Butler) and his wife (Comer). The wife provides much of the narration.

Hit Man is a surprising film and surprisingly good. Though one expects quality from director Richard Linklater. No, this is not a movie about a Mafia hit man. It is the story of someone who works for the police pretending to be a Hitman to entrap people planning murders. It is also a romantic comedy (really? Yes!). Gary Johnson (Glen Powell), is a philosophy professor who drives a Honda Civic, is divorced has two cats and frankly seems a bit of a milquetoast. But like so many other interesting characters in interesting films he goes through changes. In meeting people looking for hitman he takes on different personas, costumes, accents and mannerisms. When he plays a cool, tough guy in meeting a beautiful woman looking to have her abusive husband offed, he gradually morphs into that character. After all, said beautiful woman (the absolutely gorgeous Adria Arjona) is smitten with him. Why go back to being a regular schmendrick when you can woo beauties while being someone cool? Thus begins the romance of this most beguiling tale. Adding to Hit Man's wonders is that it's all based on a true story.

The best adjective for Hit Man is clever. Although unexpected, surprising, fun and delightful would also do. I was unfamiliar with the co-stars but was suitably impressed by both. Admittedly the voluptuous Arjona particularly impressed me (don’t tell my wife).

Without planning it Saturday was Linklater day for me. Earlier I’d watched Dazed and Confused which he directed 31 years ago. D and C is set on the last day of high school in 1976. We follow a dozen or so different characters. There is no plot to speak of. It has been compared to a similar and much better known film, American Graffiti. I think D and C makes Graffiti (which I watched two weeks ago for the first time in ages) look like a student film. Linklater’s film is rawer, more real, more intense, more interesting and funnier.

Linklater is a consistently good director having also helmed such films as Bernie, Boyhood, Slacker, Me and Orson Welles and the Before trilogy.

D and C remains my favorite of his pictures but I just might slot Hit Man into the second slot. 

I can't wait for what else 2024 has in store in the world of movies.