Fine black cast wasted in biker film that takes genre in reverse
Biker Boyz updates the exploitation biker pics of yore - the Roger Corman, Wild Angels thing, full of revved-up races, rip-roaring rumbles, leather-jacketed tough dudes and a few fast women striking encouraging poses from curbside. Actually, scratch that. This startlingly lame tale about a young upstart challenging a veteran leader of the pack doesn't update the genre, it simply recasts it. The boys of Biker Boyz are, almost to the man, black. This is a good thing in that it gives some notable African American talents - Orlando Jones, Djimon Hounsou, Laurence Fishburne and Derek Luke, the star of Antwone Fisher, among them - a whole mess of screen time.
Biker Boyz updates the exploitation biker pics of yore - the Roger Corman, Wild Angels thing, full of revved-up races, rip-roaring rumbles, leather-jacketed tough dudes and a few fast women striking encouraging poses from curbside.
Actually, scratch that. This startlingly lame tale about a young upstart challenging a veteran leader of the pack doesn't update the genre, it simply recasts it. The boys of Biker Boyz are, almost to the man, black. This is a good thing in that it gives some notable African American talents - Orlando Jones, Djimon Hounsou, Laurence Fishburne and Derek Luke, the star of Antwone Fisher, among them - a whole mess of screen time.
And this is a bad thing, because that screen time is a total mess. A nonstop cliche-fest of macho swagger, two-wheel stunts, women as babe trophies (Meagan Good, Lisa Bonet) and cornball father-son melodrama, Biker Boyz boasts a few show-off-y camera moves and a whole lot of desperately stale dialogue. Fishburne, who stars as Smoke, the head of an African American club devoted to motorcycle racing, wears cool shades and a sneer. Luke, whose work in Antwone Fisher was almost crushingly good, is the Kid, stranded with an I've-just-discovered-who-my-real-dad is revelation that would test the mettle of the most experienced thespian. The novice actor can do no more than make some sulkily defiant faces.
Reggie Rock Blythewood, who helmed a well-received indie (Dancing in September) and scripted Spike Lee's Get on the Bus, is reduced to copping music video montage tricks to move this dud along. But even when Fishburne's and Luke's characters are zooming down the blacktop in supersonic mode, Biker Boyz doesn't move anywhere near fast enough.
Contact movie critic Steven Rea at 215-854-5629 or srea@phillynews.com.
Biker Boyz * 1/2 (Out of four stars)
Produced by Stephanie Allain, Gina Prince-Bythewood and Erwin Stoff, directed by Reggie Rock Bythewood, written by Craig Fernandez and R.R. Bythewood, photography by Gregory Gardiner, music by Camara Kambon, distributed by DreamWorks Pictures.
Running time: 1 hour, 51 mins.
Smoke. . . Laurence Fishburne
Kid. . . Derek Luke
Soul Train. . . Orlando Jones
Motherland. . . Djimon Hounsou
Parent's guide: PG-13 (violence, reckless stunts, language, semi-adult themes)
Playing at: area theaters