Baby Driver. (2017)
Director: Edgar Wright. Tristar Pictures, Working Title Films, Big Talk Productions, et al.
Action/ Crime/ Comedy.
Rating: 5/5
Cast and Crew.
Writer: Edgar Wright.
Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Nira Park.
Camera: Bill Pope.
Music: Steven Price.
Sets: Marcus Rowland.
Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Jon Hamm, Lily James, Eiza González, CJ Jones, Jon Bernthal.
Summary:
Baby (Elgort) is a talented getaway driver who is coerced in to the life of crime to pay off a debt to kingpin Doc (Spacey.) After Baby meets waitress Debora (James,) he sees an opportunity to run away with her and start afresh. Doc, however views Baby as his lucky charm and neither him nor his team of criminals will let him escape so easily.
Review:
Back in 2003, Edgar Wright directed a music video for Mint Royale, which starred Julian Barratt, Michael Smiley and his good friend Nick Frost as the bank robbers, with Noel Fielding as their dancing getaway driver who relies on music to time their crime. Now in 2017, Wright has developed his music video to a feature length film.
Strategically placed music is a common motif in Wright's work; from attacking zombies to Don't Stop Me Now in Shaun of the Dead (2004), to the song choices matching the narrative in Hot Fuzz (2007), as well as the sampling of video game noise effects in Scott Pilgrim Vs The World (2010). But nowhere is this more apparent than in his latest feature.
Baby suffers from tinnitus, (which Doc explains is a constant hum-in-the-drum) and therefore plays songs from his many iPods to drown it out. This ploy sets up the film's magnificent harmony between its music and its motion.
Baby can't start his job as a getaway driver until he picks a perfect song to drive to. In the opening scene that song would be Bellbottoms, as we are introduced to the character effortlessly pull amazing driving stunts all whilst syncing up to the music. I was in awe.
The choreography throughout the film is perfection. Shot like a pseudo musical, (Wright referring to it as Car Car Land) every action matches with a beat. Early in the film there is a long shot of Baby walking down the street listening to his tunes and bopping along - think Travolta in Saturday Night Fever (1977). The entire flow of this scene has been calculated flawlessly.
In fact watching the first act is very exciting. The direction and editing was stunning, the one liners and deadpan humour was spot on and the characters were despicably engaging. I was sitting their thinking this could potentially be on par with my favourite film with the same concept; Drive (2011).
Then we are introduced to Debora (James), and unfortunately the film slows down to introduce the romantic subplot. That is not to say that I'm against "love" in action films, I just feel in this case the scenes between Baby and Debora were the weakest parts. The romance was built up so quickly that I couldn't connect with the two. It all felt a tad cliched.
Luckily the other characters that are our dysfunctional bank robbers more than make up for this. Kevin Spacey is of course so good at acting as menacing characters, that some times I feel he's not even acting anymore! It seems so natural to him. Jamie Foxx is Bats, an unhinged drug addict who has no concerned for killing in order to get what he has convinced is rightfully his.
Then there is the beautiful Jon Hamm as Buddy - a previous Wall Street employee who is driven to madness.
I will also admit that stoic Ansel Elgort acts with more gravitas than in his previous Young Adult films and franchises. The bank robbers interaction with Baby create some of the funnier and suspenseful scenes in the film.
So yes, while some of the characters and elements to the narrative feel familiar, the overall film and its cinematography is totally joyous to watch. Wright is front and foremost a fanboy, and seeing the little tidbits influenced from other films and directors shows how much fun Wright is also having.
Just like with all of his previous work, Edgar Wright is just so damn passionate about what he produces, that you can't help but feel it when you watch.
Claire Durrant
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