Feature: A Western on wheels

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- "Biker Boyz," a new action movie about urban motorcycle clubs, will inevitably -- and mistakenly -- be compared to the 2001 hit "The Fast and the Furious."

Okay, both movies are based on previously published accounts about thriving local scenes revolving around high-performance motor vehicles. In "The Fast and the Furious" it's tricked-out import autos -- Toyotas, Hondas and so on. "Biker Boyz" is all about the fastest machines on two wheels.

And sure, both feature state-of-the-art action sequences accompanied by throbbing hip-hop soundtracks.

"The Fast and the Furious" provoked serious talk that Vin Diesel was ready to assume the Schwarzenegger-Stallone mantel as the movies' preeminent action star. It also elevated Rob Cohen to Hollywood's "go-to" list of action directors.

"Biker Boyz" -- starring Laurence Fishburne and Derek Luke -- is not likely to do anything for Fishburne's image that "The Matrix" hasn't already done. Newcomer Luke does get to flex his muscles on screen in a nice contrast to the sensitive performance that made him a star in the title role of his first movie "Antwone Fisher."

"Biker Boyz" is likely to raise substantially the profile of director Reggie Rock Bythewood, who previously wrote and directed the HBO movie "Dancing in September" (2000) and wrote Spike Lee's 1996 movie "Get on the Bus." Bythewood also wrote several episodes of "A Different World," the TV series spun off from "The Cosby Show" that starred Jasmine Guy, Kadeem Hardison and Lisa Bonet.

"Biker Boyz" is Bythewood's first action picture, but he told United Press International he intentionally didn't stray far from his dramatic roots. And by the way, it is the situation at the dramatic center of "Biker Boyz" that separates it most distinctly from "The Fast and the Furious."

Instead of a story around a high-stakes theft ring involving Diesel's character, the new movie focuses on a battle between two generations of bikers for respect -- if not supremacy of the motorcycle club scene.

Fishburne's character represents the older establishment. Luke's character is driven by the impatience of youth.

"There is a sort of generational thing between the older motorcycle clubs and the younger clubs," said Bythewood.

The motorcycle clubs depicted in the movie began as a social activity for black, largely middle-class and professional, riders. The movie examines the impact on the clubs when younger riders come into the culture.

The conflict calls to mind the controversy that broke out last year over jokes in the movie "Barbershop" about civil rights icons Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. Old-school blacks said the irreverence crossed the line, while younger blacks argued for what they saw as a less idealistic, less romanticized world view.

Bythewood said the impact of younger riders on the biker club culture is roughly analogous to the impact that hip-hop has had on old school.

"With these young guys they just roll with each other, whether they are black, white -- whatever," he said. "When hip-hop first started, it was a black thing. Now it speaks to whites, Asians -- sort of no boundaries."

Comparisons may be odious, but they are also quite often irresistible. At times, when Luke's character is particularly impatient to assert his primacy without waiting his turn, one almost expects him to break into song: "Oh, I just can't wait to be king!"

Bythewood actually sees "Biker Boyz" as a contemporary Western.

"Seeing these guys walking around in their leathers and their chaps and their swagger," he said, "stylistically it started to make sense to me. The young gun is Derek. The old pro is Laurence. Everything from like 'Shane' to 'Unforgiven' raises this question -- what does it mean to be a man?"

Bythewood graciously insists he didn't set out to refashion "The Fast and the Furious" on motorcycles, and points out that he had a script before that movie was released. He also wanted to avoid "green screen" shooting techniques, in which action sequences are pasted together to make it look like actors are doing amazing stunts -- even though the actors might have been nowhere near the action.

"(Cinematographer) Greg Gardiner and I would look at 'Road Warrior' and 'Mad Max' -- where they would really do the action," said Bythewood. "I didn't want to have Derek or Laurence on a bike in front of a green screen."

Instead, the actors trained to ride in key scenes and Bythewood's team developed special rigs that allowed him to shoot scenes of riders racing -- and frequently hot-dogging -- on their machines.

"The action feels real," said Bythewood, "because it is real."