'Outlaws' Trailer: A24 Dives Into The World Of Australian Biker Gangs

After playing the Toronto International Film Festival back in 2017, the Australian biker gang drama formerly known as 1% is finally coming to theaters, but with a new title and an early 2019 release date.

The film from director Stephen McCallum is now known as Outlaws, and it follows Matt Nable as the Copperheads motorcycle club leader Knuck who has been busy doing a three-year stint in prison. Meanwhile, Paddo (Ryan Corr) has been keeping the everything in order, even turning quite the handsome profit for the gang. So when Knuck returns, there's a bit of a conflict as to whether Paddo should keep leading, or if they go back under the old leader. Violence and sex ensues, as you can see in the Outlaws trailer below.

Honestly, this doesn't look anything like an A24 movie to me. The distributor has become known for their arthouse, awards worthy and acclaimed releases, but this feels like a movie they acquired in an effort to appeal to a broader audience in a desperate fashion. That makes perfect business sense, but this feels like the kind of movie that can taint their brand too, even if this is an official TIFF selection that hails from Australia.

The trailer doesn't bring anything fresh to the table when it comes to the motorcycle gang drama. Of course there's dissension among the gang, and of course there are girlfriends supporting the dudes in this gang, and of course they have sex in between bar fights and stand-offs at gun point. This is a motorcycle gang movie! That explains why The Playlist wrote in their review last year when the movie was still called 1%:

"It's nothing short of frustrating to see genre movies stick with what we know works instead of trying anything new, and in that regard "1%" is an entirely frustrating experience."

But maybe audiences will see something they like in this movie. After all, even though the motorcycle gang subgenre has tropes, perhaps there are enough people out there who don't get enough of them to really be frustrated by a lack of originality. Or maybe there are audiences who just don't care and will watch it anyway. After all, Sons of Anarchy stuck around for years and Mayans MC picked up the mantle and delivers more of the same. Audiences seem to like feeling comfortable more than they like originality, and that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Outlaws hits theaters on February 1, 2019.