I want to start this movie review out by stating my favorite movie is The Big Lebowski. If you don't care for The Big Lebowski you might enjoy Biker Boyz. Now then...
Motorcycles, four wheelers, chicks, money, the California sun, bar fights, Kid Rock and black guys... Really, what more do you need? Well if you're referring to the new film Biker Boyz, you still need a plot with just bit more substance.
Biker Boyz, an attempted journey through the sub-culture of African American bike clubs staring Laurence Fishburne, was based on a Los Angeles New Times article by Michael Gougis, which documented this Southern Californian oddity. Although the premise of the movie--speed, danger, gangs and reality--sounds somewhat engaging, early on the film's high pace fails to set up the direction of the film in any coherent or convincing manner making for a confusing opening 20 minutes. However, some viewers may be willing to overlook Biker Boyz's incoherency for the scenes of girls in thong bikinis and racing motorcycles mobs performing striking tricks, like wheelies at eighty miles an hour.
The film opens up with Smoke [Laurence Fishburne], the "King of Cali", preparing to race a challenger for his crown, while Kid [Derek Luke], an 18-year-old rebellious prospect to Smoke's gang, The Black Knights, looks on with hundreds of others spectators. In the heat of the race, Smoke's challenger predictably loses control of his bike shooting him directly into a wall of parked motorcycles. Thereafter, the bike blasts flipping and turning into the air as if it was slung from a gigantic catapult, on the bike's way down it strikes Kid's dad, Slick Willie, launching him through wall of glass and killing him. This scene sets up the ensuing rivalry between Kid and Smoke, which becomes a cliché battle between the young rebel with something to prove and the respected top dog with everything to lose. Ring a bell... Top Gun, Karate Kid, Rocky Three, Teen Wolf, just to name a few of the greats.
With one-liners like, "Burn rubber not your soul," a somewhat unsettling screenplay will leave the viewers asking themselves, 'Did I really just hear what I think I heard?' This is not to say there aren't any unpredictable twists in the story line, because there are. However, when these twists surface, surprise was not the first sensation I felt. It's more like amusement. It was amusing from the ridiculous party scene, which seems to appear every 10 minutes, to the unnaturally forced bar fights. This picture actually becomes so bad it turns out to be somewhat entertaining.
The acting performance by a host of second-rate actors, like Lisa Bonet as Queenie, Smokes submissive mistress, and Kid Rock as Dog, the president of a rival bike club, proves to compliment the rest of this pathetic film. On an up side, Rock, being one of only two white guys in the film, does an excellent job of depicting a white trash biker, but of course, that probably because that what he is--a white trash biker.
One genuine high point of the film is its astonishing motorcycle stunts, which have riders handling their several hundred pound motorcycles like pogo sticks. Director Reggie Rock ByTheWood actually searched out real-life riders to provide most of the stunt work for the film. Other then that one great directing decision by Rock ByTheWoods, the overall directing of the movie has more in common with an MTV hip-hop music video than a motion picture. There are periods during the film when it seem as if you're watching the newest Master P music video fully equipped with the No Limit Soldiers.
Ultimately, Rock ByTheWood attempted to create a portrayal of a unique and real underground culture. However, he didn't succeed. ByTheWood, unfortunately created an incomplete film corrupted by latching onto the America public's addiction to "stuff". If Rock BytheWoods would have put as much time into harnessing the biker culture in southern California as he did into shooting slow motion cuts of four wheelers and Ninjas, he might have produced a respectable film. This film is a perfect example of how so many Hollywood films have sold out to superficial corporate culture. Please, don't go see this commercial corporate Hollywood trash.
Reach reporter at matthew.garcia3@asu.edu.
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'Biker Boyz'
Starring Laurence Fishburne, Derek Jones and Orlando Jones. Directed by Reggie Rock Bythewood. Opens Friday. |
(out of four)
